





L. HAY BALDERSTON 



LIBRARY OF CONGRE 




03731Eb 





Class L 



htN" 



COFi'RIGHT DEPOSrr 




LAUNDRY "LABORATORY. 
Teachers College. 
Columbia University. 
New York City. 



LAUNDERING 

BY 

lAray balderston 

Author of " Laundry Manual ** 

INSTRUCTOR OF LAUNDERING 

TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 

NEW YORK CITY 



PUBLISHED BY 

L. R. BALDERSTON 

1224 CHERRY STREET, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 

PRICE, $1,25 POSTPAID 



TT^ss- 



\^ 






DEC 15 I9i4 



GI.A388824 



PREFACE. 

TN preparing this second book on the art and science of 
laundry work, the author has tried to overcome the many- 
shortcomings of the little book called "Laundry Manual." 
Laundering up to the time of that book had not been con- 
sidered worthy of a text-book, but later classes caused the 
demand. Through students and teachers, together with 
the work being required in many schools and colleges, the 
science has advanced to such an extent that it is almost 
impossible to keep abreast of the chemical, textile and 
mechanical side, to say nothing of the educational, econom- 
ical and practical aspect of the subject. The whole view- 
point is broad and still growing broader; consequently the 
new book is starting on the journey which it is hoped the 
pioneer has prepared for it, to be of greater service to stu- 
dent, teacher and housekeeper. 

The author wishes to thank all of the former friends who 
have used the "Laundry Manual," and hopes that the new 
book, "Laundering," will be even more helpful, because 
more up to date. Special thanks are extended to all who 
have so willingly given of their help and advice: to Miss 
M. J. McKeown, for the ever helpful assistance in reading 

manuscript and writing the chapters on Bluing and Disin- 

(5) 



6 Preface. 

fection; to Dr. B. R. Andrews, for reviewing the manu- 
script; to Miss S. B. Vanderbilt, for her assistance from 
the chemistry standpoint; to Mrs. Ellen McGowan for 
reviewing the work on textiles and stains; to Miss E. H. 
Gunther, whose aid in compiHng has made the book possible. 
To students, teachers and housekeepers the book is 
dedicated. 

L. Ray Balderston. 



f 



CONTENTS. 



PART I 

PAGE 

Chapter I. — History '11 

Chapter II. — Foreign Methods 18 

Chapter III. — Reasons for Cleansing 24 

Chapter IV. — Fabrics 27 

Chapter V. — Methods of Cleansing 32 

Chapter VI. — Stain Removal 39 

Chapter VII. — Washing Agents 52 

Water 52 

Soap 53 

Starch 60 

Bluing 66 

Other Cleansers 73 

Chapter VIII. — Preparation of Wash 80 

Chapter IX. — Process of Washing White Clothes 82 

Chapter X. — Table Linen and Bed Linen 88 

Chapter XI. — Body Linen 93 

Chapter XII. — Colored Linen 103 

Chapter XIII.— Woolens 107 

Chapter XIV.— Silks 112 

Chapter XV. — Laces and Special Cleaning 115 

Chapter XVI. — Fumigation and Disinfection .* 124 

Chapter XVII.— Dry Cleaning 129 

PART II 

Chapter XVIII. — Equipment 133 

Domestic 134 

Institutional 168 

PART III 

Chapter XIX. — Teaching Suggestions 181 

Class Room Equipment 182 

Outline for Courses 190 

Bibliography 1 99 

Index 201 

(7) 



PART I. 



CHAPTER I. 

HISTORY OF LAUNDERING. 

Mechanical History. — The process of laiindering, or the 
cleansing of fabrics by wet methods, was at the beginning 
an entirely mechanical one, as chemical aids were not 
known. The earliest known method of washing depended 




entirely on the action of the running water of streams. 
If the water was not running, the primitive peoples 
quite naturally used twisting, shaking, flopping, slapping 
and pounding. They were dependent on the solvent 
power of water for many kinds of soil, but if any stain 
was not soluble in water, there was no way to take it 

(11) 



12 



Laundering. 



out. We find it stated that 2000 years B.C., Egyptians 
on the Nile stamped their clothes with the feet, beat 
them with white clay, and wrung them by twisting and 
turning, one end being fastened. Homer in the "Odys- 
sey" tells of the early wash days in Greece. 

These primitive laundresses next tried to hasten the 




process by more mechanical methods. They used tread- 
ing, pounding the clothes with sticks and stones, or 
rubbing them on rough stones — anything to create 
friction. 

The next step was to build platforms out from the 
shore. Plain slanting boards were also used and the 
clothes were slapped on these — the first washing-boards. 



History. 



13 



Boards were gradually made with grooves or corruga- 
tions, as the rough surface increased friction and so 
hastened cleansing. This was the origin of the modern 
wash-board — which will soon be a thing of the past, 
as friction must cease. Smoothing with a stick finally 
was used as an ironing process. It became a machine: 




several wooden pieces called a mange — Italian — from 
which we get our mangle. It was invented in the four- 
teenth or fifteenth century and was intended especially 
for weavers. In the sixteenth century small mangles 
were in use in all the cities. 

Queen Elizabeth with her ruffs caused a certain Dutch 
woman to invent the art of starching. Teachers in this 



14 Laundering. 

art were called professors of starching and were paid 
five pounds for every lesson. 

Smoothing irons were made of steel or brass, with 
wooden handles. Red-hot iron or coals were placed in 
the body of the iron, such as are still used in Korea. 

An ironing bell from which our puff iron comes was 
used for ironing ruffs. Delicate things were not ironed 
but were smoothed on a glass roller. We use this today 
for lace and ribbon in the fonn of a glass bottle. 

The story is told that a collar in London in 1832 drew 
attention to the question of sterilizing the clothes; as 
a result a poor woman set up a wash-boiler, soap kettle, 
and other appliances, and so we have the first public 
wash-house. Here washwomen paid a penny for the 
privilege of its use, and in 1842 a public laundry was 
established in Liverpool. Finally in this present period, 
in the domestic laundry, wash-boards and other primitive 
equipment are giving way to the various mechanical 
devices which are great labor savers and time savers, 
and often indeed fabric savers. Washing machines 
driven by motors, special washing devices for clothes, 
boilers and wash-tubs, wringers (even motor driven), 
and steam drying rooms, are making the whole less of a 
drudgery. 

The irons are no longer heated with hot coal, but 
by gas burning inside, or by electricity. 
Chemical History. — Water has solvent power. The early 
laundress washed her clothes in the running brook and 
the water dissolved out the dirt. To hasten its work 
the laundress often pounded the clothes with a paddle 
or stone or trod them. This process was slow, and as 
time became a consideration it seemed wise to find some 



History. 



15 



cleansing agent that would add its power to that of the 
water. 

The alkaline nature of urine was learned, and it was 
the custom to have urine collected in large urns in central 
places in the village. This became the public source of 
supply for the first chemical aid in washing. 

Later wood ashes were taken from the housewife's 




ITALIAN LAUNDRY. 



fire, covered with water and the pearl ash or potash was 
dissolved — "leached." The clothes were soaked in 
this, and the pearl ash or lye aided in the cleaning 
process, but it was destructive to the clothes. An 
illustration of this method is found in the Italian caldron, 
where the clothes are placed, the finest in the center, 



16 



Laundering, 



covered with canvas, ashes placed on top and water 
poured over. 

To deaden the potash, it was mixed with kitchen 
grease, thus making a kind of soap. This soap was of 
irregular composition, with the potash usually in excess. 
This potash "broke" the hardness of the water, and the 
suds acted as a carrier of dirt, thus making a double 
cleansing agent. 

The modern use of soap demands that it be a perfectly 




ITALIAN CLOTHES LINE. 



balanced one in its proportion of grease and alkali — 
not just any soap. There are still inaccuracies in present 
methods — for instance, the extra handful of washing 
soda, but this, too, is going, as scientific accuracy 
demands it should. 

When the soil of the clothes has been studied and 
means of removal other than soap and water have been 
found, we shall learn that certain soil is not soluble in 
soap and water, but is soluble in an acid or an alkali. 
Also a knowledge of chemistry and textiles has shown 



History. 



17 



how we may use such agents with Httle or no injury to 
fabrics. 

With knowledge of fabrics and the stains likely to 
occur, the trained worker may justly use the acid and 




alkali solvent because the chemistry of textiles and 
chemistry of stains teach the use, care, dilution and 
thorough neutralization of chemicals and show those 
chemicals destructive to individual fibers. 



CHAPTER II. 
PRIMITIVE METHODS USED TODAY. 

Many evidences of the old-time primitive methods of 
washing are still seen in foreign countries. 

In France, at places along the banks of rivers and streams, 
women are seen pounding their clothes with fiat paddles on 
the rocks. 

The peasants in Normandy hollow out the loose beach 
stones in the path of a fresh-water spring on its way to the sea. 
When the pool is filled, they put in a large stone which they 
use as a wash-board. When the clothes are washed and 
rinsed, they are spread on the beach to dry. 

In Holland, the little Dutch woman may be seen at a 
trough or boat landing on the edge of the canal washing her 
blue and pink cottons. Water is there and enough; but one 
is likely to question the merit of this kind of washing from a 
sanitary view-point. 

The semi-annual wash-day in some remote places in Ger- 
many still prevails. Long lines of boats filled with the 
accumulated clothes may be seen coming down the streams 
until an available spot may be found, and then the work is 
begun. This work is a task, as great quantities of clothes 
have accumulated. They have been kept from one wash-day 
to another in an aired loft at the top of the house where it is 
possible to stretch clothes-lines. 

Among the Norwegians today we find this same plan of 
accumulating clothes for months, storing them in specially 
made compartments in the lofts, and having wash-day two 
or three times a year. One rather unusual feature of their 

(18) 



Primitive Methods. 



19 



mangling or ironing is the use of a long box on rollers. This 
box is filled with stones, and with one woman at one end and 
one at the other they manage to do the tiring work of rolling 
this weighted press over the clothes. 

The "open-air laundry" is a very common sight in Switzer- 
land. In the middle of a street in the village all the washing 
processes are carried on. On the wood-stove is the huge 




kettle in which they boil their clothes, often two or three 
hours. In place of a wash-board — for they do no rubbing 
whatever — there is a long, inclined bench upon which they 
"throw" the clothes after being thoroughly soaped — 
literally throw out the dirt. 

Common fountains for washing are used by groups of 
Swiss peasants. They gather at the bowl or trough of the 



20 



Laundering. 



fountain, working in twos at first, and later placing their 
clothes in the different compartments of the trough for 



rinsmsf. 




COMMUNITY OR MUNICIPAL LAUNDRIES. 

This community work is carried out on a larger scale by 
the Swiss in the public wash-houses and on the public river 
boats. People in Germany have the use of public wash- 
houses, too. The first one was built in Hamburg in 1852 
at a cost of 100,000 marks, the city giving ground -space and 
water free of charge. In London, the city's poor have a 
place to do their washing, usually in connection with their 
public baths. Many modern appliances are found in these, 
an endless supply of soap and bluing, hydro-extractors in 



Primitive Methods. 



21 



which the clothes are wrung, and many aids to make the task 
easier. 

In Paris two classes of "lavoirs" play a prominent part. 
The first kind — "bateau lavoirs," of which there are about a 
dozen— are large covered boats moored in the Seine, to which 




PUBLIC WASH-HOUSE. 



washerwomen go and wash their clothes in cold running 
water by rubbing with soap on a board, or beating with a 
wooden club or mallet. The second — the * 'lavoirs publiques, " 
in number about four himdred — are located in every part of 
the city, and supplied with hydrant water from the municipal 
water mains. These are private business establishments, 
open to the public on payment of a fixed rate or tax per hour. 



22 Laundering. 

This entitles the women to the use of tubs, hot water, wring- 
ing machine, and a drying room in which the washing is 
dried by artificial heat. The sign of this kind of a laundry 
is generally a large tin flag painted with the national colors. 
These laundries are subject to the visitation and inspection 
of the police, who are in such matters under the control of 
the sanitary authorities or council of hygiene. 

In Rome and in other Italian cities, we find the com- 
mercial "lavatojos" similar to those found in Mexico. 
These are usually roofed over to protect the workers from the 
hot sun. Row after row of these Italian women are washing, 
each working in the divided trough. In some places in Italy 
they have their wash-day — "bucato" — every two weeks, and 
often a conca, or large earthen jar, is used as a tub. 

The communistic idea is thus emphasized by many of these 
countries, giving opportunity to the poor people. Here in 
America could we not as a commimity do more toward 
agitating the question of community work, or, better still, 
public wash-houses in connection with public supply of 
water under control of city officials with boards of health? 
Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia have most satisfac- 
torily proven the good of such public wash-houses and 
laundries. 

The difference between a municipal wash-house and a 
municipal laundry is that the former is equipped with 
what might be called individual equipment. The room is 
divided into stalls or compartments, and each is furnished 
with two set tubs and a wringer. Here the woman may 
take her clothes and wash them in privacy, comfort and the 
luxury of good equipment and an abundance of hot and cold 
water. Soap is supplied at a few cents cost in some, while 
in many the women bring their own. 

The public laundry is steam equipped, and the work is 



Primitive Methods. 23 

done by power machines of the laundry type. The individual 
family wash is placed in bags, and as the washers have four 
or five compartments, as many bundles may be done at a 
time. An expert washman does the work, and the owner 
ealls for it at the close of the day. The cost per family 
bundle for washing the clothes is about ten cents in the 
wash-house and twenty cents in the laundry. 

In the rural districts, co-operative or community laundries 
may be established in conjunction with creameries. This is 
possible through planning a building with two distinct ends. 
In each end the machinery for either operation may be 
established and one power house, rental, manager and 
oftentimes delivery does much to- reduce the cost and to 
increase the prospect of getting some of the work away from 
the already too busy farmer's wife. 



CHAPTER III. 
REASONS FOR LAUNDERING. 

Laundering of clothes is a necessity for sanitary reasons 
and economic reasons; it is a comfort and luxury for esthetic 
reasons. Health requires clean clothes, because dirty clothes 
have lost their absorbing power. The body is constantly 
throwing off waste oil and moisture through the pores of the 
skin, and these are taken up and carried away from the body 
by the clothing. When pores of the clothing become satu- 
rated they lose their power of absorption and the clothing 
becomes damp and to avcertain extent it has lost its heat- 
retaining property. 

Clean clothes are necessary hygienically, because through 
the open pores of the clothing the air may pass more freely 
to the skin and oxygen can be absorbed by its pores. When 
clothes become soiled washing restores this condition; and 
again, soiled clothes may be a bearer of disease germs which 
may easily and effectively be destroyed by the soap and water 
plus the heat of boiling and that of ironing. Bacteriologists 
are convinced that clothes are made sterile by the process 
used in good laundry work. Soiled clothes should be care- 
fully handled, and especially handkerchiefs should be kept 
in a bag until they have been put in soap and water. 

Washing for economic reasons is easily understood when we 
remember that if soiled clothing is not cleaned, new must be 
purchased. The knowledge of laundering is decidedly an 
individual economy. A recent illustration brought to class 
is certainly convincing. The garment — a white cotton voile, 
trimmed with heavy lace, no plaits, kimono sleeves, no 

(24) 



Reasons for Laundering. 25 

collar — was the first time cleaned by dry cleaner at $4.00; 
next time the owner laundered it and kept count of time 
required: 15 minutes to wash, 1| hours to iron, whole time 
Ij hours. How many women are earning $4.00 for 1 J hours' 
work? The cost of heat for iron and starch can't exceed 
five cents. Again, one must accept the fact that the owner 
who knows the value is the best caretaker and so washes and 
irons with much less destruction of garment and so greater 
economy in the long run. 

We say ironing is a luxury. It is when we consider that 
rough dry clothes ^mell clean, look clean, and are clean; 
but ironed clothes feel better and look better, and from that 
standpoint they are a luxury. 

Much may be said in this connectipn which involves not 
only the sanitary but the social problem. A good deal has 
been written concerning the likelihood of disease being 
spread by soiled clothes. Many people must be depended 
upon to prevent this — it is not just the problem of the 
laundry. Should actual disease be present in the family, 
the family or physician must report same to the Board of 
Health, whose business it is to prevent or tell how to prevent 
spreading of contagion. The nurse, or in her absence the 
non-professional caretaker, must be taught how to disinfect 
and the absolute need for care. This can be and has been 
done so well, and the laundries are so cautious in their 
collection, that while much has been written and talked about 
contagion in the laundry, almost no case of disease trans- 
mitted through a laundry can be proven. 

The housewife has both a health and a social problem in 
her own home as regards the care and handling of soiled 
clothing. From the sanitary viewpoint, the regular collec- 
tion and care of handkerchiefs is important where persons 
have colds and sore throat; the keeping them in a bag and. 



26 Laundering. 

without handling, lowering them all into water to which salt 
or ammonia or soap has been added. Long ago the wicker 
clothes hamper has been replaced by a tin hamper in hospi- 
tals, so that for the home today we should consider either 
lining the wicker with a muslin fitted lining which can be 
lifted out with the clothes and washed and boiled with them, 
or using the white enamel papier mache hampers and clothes 
hampers now on the market. This question might be asked 
here: How many clothes hampers and baskets are washed 
each week? We all know their weaving offers many niches 
for dirt and germs. 

From the social standpoint, the housekeeper who sends out 
clothing has a great responsibility, for knowing something of 
the conditions under which her clothes are done and for 
helpful co-operating with the laundry's schedule. She 
should plan her collecting of clothing so no driver need make 
a second call, having called to no avail the first time, nor, 
having hindered by not having her clothes ready in time, 
should she demand their return in a prohibitively short time. 
These two facts are the cause for much overwork in the 
laundry which patrons could easily obviate by individual 
co-operation. Many of the laundries are charging extra for 
rush orders, and this is as it should be. Therefore, inquire 
how you can co-operate with your commercial laundry. 
Learn, too, whether the labor law in your state requires 
reasonable hours — not over fifty-four hours a week for women 
in laundries. Another responsibility, even of the woman 
who hires a single washwoman, is reasonable hours — not 
over nine, better eight a day, and fair wages. A test of the 
latter is whether the woman could live on them. 



CHAPTER IV. 

FABRICS. 

Animal: Wool. 
Silk. 

Vegetable: Linen. 
Cotton. 

Those who would do the most delicate work and undertake 
the unusual problems in the laundry should make some little 
study of the fabrics — enough to know their special charac- 
teristics and their reaction to changes of temperature and 
various chemicals. 

Animal Fibers are more easily injured than vegetable fibers. 
They are easily scorched and usually beyond repair 
Silk stiffens under heat and then breaks. This is espe- 
cially seen where plaits in taffetas are pressed in the 
making of a dress. The animal fibers are affected by 
alkalis, the effect depending on the kind, the strength, 
and the temperature of the solution. With either fabric, 
a continued application of most alkalis will dissolve the 
fiber. In either case, the white fiber yellows. Strong 
soda, potash or chloride of lime will disintegrate it. 

Wool and silk are animal fibers. The wool is a tubular 
fiber, very short, but covered with tiny overlapping 
scales. Under the microscope these scales make one 
think of fish scales. When the fiber or cloth is wet, 
it expands and these scales project their edges. If the 
cloth is rubbed while wet, the scales interlock and the 
fiber shortens, with shrinkage of the cloth resulting. 

(27) 



28 



Laundering. 



This same interlocking takes place when the wool is 
subjected to great heat — either water or iron — to strong 
alkali solutions or soap, and to rubbing. Dilute acids 
are not so injurious to wools and have less action than 
on linens and cottons. 

Silk is a fine, lustrous fiber, more delicate than wool. 
Under the microscope it is a double fiber before boiling 
off, but after that the filaments are separated into single 
structureless threads as we see in sewing silk and silk 
material. Silk does not shrink like wool, but is easily 
affected by alkalis, by concentrated acids and by heat. 






^SliP' 



hW 




I? 



'f\ i 




WOOLEN FIBERS. 



From the study of wool and silk fiber we may deter- 
mine the rule for cleaning woolen and silk fabrics: — 

Wash in lukewarm water — not over 110° F. 

Soap should be free from excess alkali and should be 
in solution. 

Stains may be removed if dilute acids, which do not 
harm either fabric, will dissolve the stain. This only 
applies to white goods. 

Chloride of lime bleach cannot be used with either 
fabric. Borax and ammonia may be used with either, 
as they are both such mild alkalis that they do little 



Fahricc. 



29 



or no harm — in fact, often make the washing easier, as 
they soften the water. 

Irons should be warm rather than hot, and the fabric 
should be protected from the iron by cheese-cloth to 
prevent scorching. 

Vegetable Fibers. — Cotton and Hnen, the vegetable fibers, 
are tougher than the animal fibers, and hence have 
greater resistance to chemicals and friction and heat. 

The cotton fiber is like a ribbon and may be dis- 
tinguished from linen in that it is ribbon-like and inclined 




COTTON FIBERS. 



to twist, while linen is tubular like the stem of a plant 
and the broken fiber is straight or brush-like at the end. 
Linen is not so flexible as cotton and will break under 
too heavy repeated pressure on the folds, as is shown 
in the cracking of table linen from the continual foldings. 
Concentrated acids and alkalis will in time destroy 
either fiber, but dilute acids and alkalis can be used to 
remove stains and bleaches, provided the contact is 
not long and at too high a temperature, and provided 
all chemicals be either neutralized or thoroughly washed 
out. In either case the chemical must be rendered 
inactive. 



30 



Laundering. 



With this knowledge we are ready to formulate a rule 
for washing cottons and linens: 

Cotton and linen may have stains removed, if color 
plays no part, by using either dilute alkali or dilute acid. 

All chemicals must be thoroughly removed. 

Soaps may come in direct contact with fiber; a slight 
amount of rubbing will not injure these fabrics. Cotton 
and linen can be bleached if one is careful to use solutions 
of proper strength and if the chemical is neutralized or 




LINEN FIBERS. 



washed out. A good rule may be used here — many short 
applications are better than any one long-continued one. 

Cotton and linen may be boiled and may be starched 
and ironed with a hot iron because the fibers are tough 
enough to allow this treatment. 

Mixed Fabrics and Adulterations. — In attempting to clean 
a fabric which is made of two fabrics, it is always wise 
to consider the fiber that is the most delicate, and wash 
according to that rule. For instance, a garment of 



Fabrics, 3 1 

silk and cotton had better be considered as all silk. 
Silk and wool is an easy combination, as the same 
treatment suits either. 

Imitation fibers are, like any fraud, hard to deal with. 
Artificial silk may not resist heat, so if one is in doubt 
as to the purity of the silk, water used in washing should 
be cool rather than warm. Imitation brocades are only 
stamped patterns, and, of course, disappear with the 
finishing gloss in the water. Cheap imitation mercerized 
cloth is no longer shiny after leaving the wash water, 
for the starch or dextrine gloss used to give the appear- 
ance of mercerization is dissolved in the water. Real 
mercerization, a finish which is given to the individual 
fiber, is lasting in its effect, because the fiber is chemically 
mercerized by soda while under tension. 



CHAPTER V. 
METHODS OF CLEANSING. 

Stains and Removal. 

We have already realized the need of knowing the character 
of the fabric we are to clean, and determining that, the next 
we must know is the character of the soil or stain. Soil is 
any material foreign to the fabric in its pure or fresh state. 



Soil 



A. Organic. 






1 . Animal. Stains from 




1 . Meat and its products. 

2. Blood. 

3. Egg. 

4. Milk and its products. 

7. Bacteria. 


5. Fats. 

6. Body (perspiration, 
oily secretion, body 
excretions, dead 
skin.) 


2. Vegetable. Stains from 




1. Vegetables. 

2. Fruits. 




3. Oils. 

4. Mildew. 


B. Inorganic. 


' 




Stains from 






1. Medicine. 




5. Acids. 


2. Ink. 




6. Alkalis. 


3. Paint. 

4. Minerals. 


8. Dust. 

(32) 


7. Wagon grease, ma- 
chine oil. 



Methods oj Cleansing. 33 

An unknown stain is not always easy to classify, but 
with experience many deductions can be made which help 
towards the classification. 

Most of the so-called animal stains are held in by albumin 
or fat. The albumin type of stains is inclined to remain on 
the •surface, as the albumin coagulates quickly and prevents 
absorption — a pronounced example is an egg stain. 

A fat stain, whether animal or vegetable, is likely to make 
a white fabric translucent, often has an odor, and with dark 
silks or wools is made more noticeable by darkening the 
fabric, or showing the dust it has gathered. 

Meat juice stains usually combine a fat with albumin. 
Albumin dissolves in cold water and fat stains may be 
washed out with cold water and soap, so a valuable rule 
presents itself: When in doubt always use cold water. It 
does no harm and may do wonders. 

Vegetable stains are held in by sugar and fats. The 
sugar causes the fabric to stiffen and glaze, while the fat 
stain is neither stiff nor glossy, but more translucent. Cold 
water dissolves sugar — hot water does it more quickly, so if 
one is sure it is fruit juice or punch, hot water is a most 
efficient reagent. Depend on the cold water if cream or 
any fat is mixed with the sugar. Again we may repeat — 
When in doubt use cold water. 

The third type of stains is the hardest type and requires 
the most care and knowledge. Most of these stains are 
hard because at the outset, owing to various manufacturing 
formulae, the composition of any of the materials may be 
different. For example, ink may give an acid or alkali 
reaction, and, in either case, its opposing chemical should 
be used. Paints may have all kinds of pigments; medicine 
may be a mixture of all types. It is with these stains that 
chemical and textile knowledge reaps the greatest reward 



34 Laundering. 

and where patience is the crowning factor. As a class these 
stains are not soluble in water. So chemical solvents must 
be used if they are to be removed. 

Mildew is an organic or vegetable stain of a fungi nature. 
It attacks the cloth first on the surface and if found early 
enough may be washed off as easily as mold is from a glass of 
jelly. In later stages it may be bleached out by Javelle 
water or a solution of chloride of lime, or of potassium 
permanganate. A still later stage will be found impossible 
to remove because it has attacked the fiber to the point of 
destruction. 

We have classified the fabrics and the soil or dirt; it 
remains to classify the method of removal: 

By 1. Solvents. 3. Detergents. 

2. Absorbents. 4. Bleaches. 

Solvents. — The discussion on soil shows us that water is 
the main solvent. Acids and alkalis may be solvents 
because they convert the solid insoluble substance into 
a liquid state, and the stain passes out into the wash 
water which is used to rinse out the chemical. 

Soap increases the solvent power of water in cases of 
grease by the suds it produces with water. 

Other solvents are: 

Oxalic acid. Hydrochloric acid. 

Ether. Alcohol. 

Chloroform. 

Absorbents. — These are most often used when the fabric 
is not to be wet, either because it is new or because 
water is injurious to its color or its finish. Absorbents 
act like blotting paper and must be used as*such, bearing 



Methods of Cleansing. 35 

in mind that as fast as they absorb or are saturated, 
so fast must a new absorbent be used. A list of absorb- 
ents follows: 

1. White blotting paper. 4. Dry starch. 

2. Unglazed paper. 5. Fuller's earth. 

3. Unglazed cloth. 6. Meals. 

7. Magnesia. 

Apply usually on both sides, so the absorption may be 
rapid. 

Detergents are in a way solvents because most prepared 
detergents have some grease solvents, such as ether, 
alcohol, gasoline. A detergent usually is a soap solution, 
which cleans by its lather, combined with some dissolv- 
ing agent which freely cuts the grease, so that the gar- 
ment is quickly cleansed. 

Any cleansing solution containing ether or chloroform 
may fade color, as some dyes dissolve in their presence. 
It is wise, therefore, to test the effect of a detergent on 
a sample of the goods or on a hidden part of the garment. 
Diluting the solution may be all that is necessary to 
prevent fading. Again, the water used with the deter- 
gent may leave a water spot or ring; this is easily 
removed by steam — see chapters on Stains and Recipes. 

To use detergent: Apply cleaning fluid with a soft 
cloth or clean sponge; or preferably use a piece of the 
same goods as that to be cleaned. Place the same 
material under the stain and keep in mind the fact that 
the detergent cleans by dissolving, and consequently 
the dirt is passing to the absorbing material underneath. 
Therefore, remember this — that the under piece must 
be changed very frequently. The reason for using 



36 Laundering. 

material like the garment for cleaning is that if there 
is any bleeding of color the cleaning cloth will add color 
rather than subtract. 

Bleaches may be called the heroic cleaners, and for that 
reason are accepted and used as the last alternative. 
Bleaches, whether used on a stain or white goods, or on 
a colored fabric, remove color by oxidation; therefore 
they should be considered only in connection with white 
clothing. Most effective bleaches are oxygen bearers; 
this oxygen in the presence of heat or moisture is set 
free to do its work by decolorizing. Bleaching should 
always be left to the last, as at no time is it justifiable 
to use strong chemicals when sunlight, soap and water, 
or borax will do the work. The bleaching should be 
done on clean, wet fiber; clean, because often the 
washing process will remove the stain; wet, because 
oxidation or bleaching is best done with moisture. 
Dew and frost furnish naturally the moisture, otherwise 
the laundress must apply moisture by sprinkling the 
garment before laying in the sun. The only time one 
should consider bleaching colored material is when the 
colored pattern has been washed and has faded to such 
a degree that the garment would look better if all trace 
of color were removed. 
List of bleaches: 

1. Sunlight and moisture. 6. Chloride of lime. 

2. Oxygen gas. 7. Oxalic acid. 

3. Sulphur. 8. Potassium perman- 

4. Borax. ganate. 

5. Ammonia. 9. Hyposulphite of 

soda. 
10. Hydrogen peroxide. 



Methods of Cleansing. 37 

The first two in the list we may call nature bleaches 
and may be considered harmless for cotton and linen. 
Wools and silk will yellow in sunlight. 

Sunshine is the simplest method of bleaching and is also 
the safest. To bleach with sunshine, the garment 
should first be clean as in all bleaching. Having been 
washed as clean as possible, spread while wet in the 
sun. The sun, together with the oxygen of the water, 
is most effective in its work. This method requires 
the least knowledge and the most time, but no destruc- 
tion of fiber results. Often the garments are spread 
in the dew. This dew takes the place of sprinkling the 
clothes. With either process we are dependent upon 
the oxygen supplied by the moisture. 

Sulphur may be used to bleach woolens, but must be handled 
with great care, as its burning not only involves the 
danger of fire, but sulphur fumes should not be inhaled. 
A large barrel or box out of doors may be used as the 
bleach room. Sulphur bleaching indoors is not advis- 
able. Stand a sulphur candle in a pan of water in the 
bottom of the barrel, suspend a number of strings from 
each side of the barrel, and on the stretched strings lay 
the clean, wet woolen garment (white, of course) and 
let the fumes from the burning candle pass up and 
through. A cover over the top will make the process 
more complete. After bleaching, wash to remove 
sulphur odor. The time depends on degree of discolor- 
ation to be removed. To test, remove cover of barrel 
for a few minutes before looking in and then examine. 
Re-cover for further bleaching. 

Borax and Ammonia are often used as mild bleaches. They 
may be added to the water and if used in the final rinse. 



38 Laundering. 

will do much to whiten. Their great power is as a 
solvent of grease which may be holding the soil in the 
fabric. 

Chloride of Lime is the bleach most often used in the 
laundry. It is rarely used alone, but is combined with 
washing soda, the combination producing Labarraque, 
more commonly called Javelle. Javelle should be used 
as a perfectly clear liquid, and always with water. 
Heat increases its bleaching action, which is due to the 
chlorine, which when set free unites with water and 
releases oxygen, the real bleach. It is wrong to boil 
clothes in bleach, because under high temperature the 
bleach is most destructive to cotton and linen fiber. 
A good bleaching temperature is 110° F. Javelle must 
not be used for woolens and silks. See recipe for 
Javelle, page 42. 

Oxalic Acid is a good bleach and if used in small quan- 
tities, with care to wash out every trace of the acid, 
it will be most efficient and not destructive. Recipe, 
page 42. 

Potassium Permanganate is a strong oxidizing agent; hence 
a bleach, and if used in conjunction with oxalic acid is 
a remover of most otherwise obstinate stains. Recipe, 
page 42. 

Hydrosulphite of Soda and Hydrogen Peroxide are also 
oxidizing agents, the former being especially suited for 
silks. 



CHAPTER VI. 
METHOD OF REMOVING STAINS. 

Working outfit for stain work : 

1 dropper for each chemical. 

1 cup. 

1 bowl. 

Blotting paper or cloth the color of fabric. 

Soft cloth. 

Soft brush. 

Chemical. 

Before beginning to work on the stain, the worker must 
ask, and as near as possible decide, these questions: 
What kind of fabric is stained ? 
What is the stain? 

In both cases experience helps us to answer, but often a 
third element is present, and that is the color of the fabric. 
Experience again teaches that it is wise to try a bit of the 
colored fabric by using a sample of the goods, some inner 
seam or underneath part of the garment, and in that way 
test the action of the reagent; and that test having been 
made, the worker or owner must decide which is the least 
noticeable — the stain, or the resulting color, or no color, 
from the removal of the stain. Water rings need not hinder, 
for if they are all that remain after the stain is removed, they 
may be easily and quickly removed by steam. 

Stains on white cottons and linens are, comparatively 
speaking, a known quantity; on white silks and wools we 
find it harder and less sure, but most often worthy of trial. 

(39) 



40 Laundering. 

On colors there is always a risk, always need of much expe- 
rience, much care and deftness, always need of much experi- 
menting, ■ always the use of dilute solutions and very rapid 
work. Often the experienced worker prefers to have the 
stain removed even if the white spot needs to be retinted. 
This retinting can be done with water colors or carefully 
mixed dyes, and must be done after each cleaning. 

Knowing the fabric and the stain, prepare to remove stain 
by spreading stained portion over a bowl, and with a dropper 
or stirring rod apply the right reagent. Follow quickly 
with warm water, not hot, and keep in mind that many short 
applications are surer and safer than long-continued use of 
chemicals without rinsing. 

If all concentrated chemicals are diluted by an equal 
quantity of water, they are strong enough to dissolve stain 
and need not harm the fabric. (See recipes.) 

When the stain has disappeared, one of two things must be 
done and done well: Either wash the spot treated and its 
surroundings until the chemical is entirely removed, or 
neutralize the chemical by an opposing chemical, and then 
rinse. After removing stains, wash the spot with soap and 
water and then rinse. 

In some cases two chemicals are needed; one follows the 
other in right rotation as prescribed in stain-removing list, 
but it is alway^ wise to wash between reagents with clear 
warm — not hot — water. Do not use bleaches unless as a 
last effort, and do not use on colors — remember that the 
word bleach means no color. 

Ink stains on white woolens may be removed by the 
oxalic acid and Javelle method only, as the oxalic acidulates 
the wool and keeps the alkali bleach from its natural action 
of yellowing and dissolving wool. If these treatments are 
long continued, they result most likely in a thinning of the 
woolen fiber. 



Method of Removing Stains. 41 

Rules that a good worker on stains follows: 

1 . Know material. 

2. Know stain. 

3. Use dilute reagents. 

4. Use a dropper. 

5. Wash thoroughly. 

6. Always use simplest reagents first. 

Stains where Water can Play no Part. 

On some woolens and silks, grease spots may be removed 
by gasoline, naphtha, alcohol, benzine — all of which are grease 
solvents, or by fuller's earth, paper or starch, which are 
absorbents. The above solvents are inflammable. 

The solvent method means that the gasoline, etc., dissolve 
the grease, setting it free in the gasoline, and it is free to run 
where it will, perhaps spreading, making a ''gasoline ring." 
Much of this can be avoided by the use of clean white 
blotting paper or soft white cloth under the stain when it is 
rubbed by a cloth (preferably of the same material) on top. 
As fast as either cloth is soiled, a new pad and a new rubber 
should be used. Rubbing these stains until they are dry also 
helps prevent the gasoline ring. After the spot has been 
removed, it will b'e found that dipping the whole garment in 
gasoline or naphtha will remove traces of spots. Alcohol is a 
grease solvent, but like ether is a solvent of color as well. 
The absorbent method is best u^ed when the stain is fresh 
and so easily absorbed. As fast as the absorbent agent shows 
grease or color, a new covering should be used. A warm iron 
will liquefy the grease and aid the absorbent in its work. 
Do not have iron too hot, as it will not only change the color 
of the fabric but often darkens a grease spot. 



42 Laundering. 

Note. — Care must be taken in the use of gasoline, naphtha, 
ether or benzine, as all are inflammable. Do not have a 
flame near. 

Detergents given in this book and sold as grease cleansers 
usually contain ether and should be used most carefully, 
because ether is quite likely to fade color. Do not use 
detergents where water can not be used. They are of most 
service in "spotting" (technical term for removing spots) 
heavy suitings. Here again a cloth should be used under the 
stain while it is being rubbed on top. 

Javelle Water. 
1 lb. washing soda, | lb. chloride of lime, 

1 qt. boiling water, 2 qts. cold water. 

Put the soda into an agate pan and add the boiling water. Mix 
the lime in the cold water. Let the mixture settle and pour the clear 
liquid into the dissolved soda. Bottle, and keep in a dark place. 

Javelle water forms a very efficient bleaching liquid for unbleached 
fabrics, as well as for cotton goods that have become yellow with dirt 
and age. To remove stains from white goods, soak the article in equal 
quantities of Javelle water and hot water until the stain disappears; 
then rinse thoroughly in several waters, and finally in dilute ammonia 
water. Articles washed in Javelle wate^r have a strong odor of the 
chloride of lime and the final washing in water to which ammonia has 
been added, will help to destroy this odor. Use 1 tablespoon of am- 
monia in 2 quarts of water. Javelle removes all stains and all colors, 
and therefore should not be used on colored goods. If articles remain 
too long in the Javelle water, the fiber will be injured. 

Oxalic Acid. 

1 oz. crystals, f c. water. 

Dissolve crystals in water. For dilute solution, add equal quantity 
of water. 

Potassium Permanganate. 

1 grain of permanganate crystals, 1 qt. water. 
Dissolve the crystals in water. 



Method of Removing Stains. 



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Method of Removing Stains. 



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CHAPTER VII 

WASHING AGENTS. 

Water. — Water is the solvent upon which we must depend 
for the general cleaning. It is not only a solvent, but 
a carrier. These two properties make it especially 
adapted to the cleaning of soiled clotiies. There are 
two kinds of water — soft and hard. Soft water is 
most suited for washing, because it combines readily 
with the soap, easily making a lather which is the 
means of carrying off the dirt. Hard water may 
either be temporarily or permanently hard. Tem- 
porarily hard water is easily made soft by filling the 
tub some time before the water is needed, thus exposing 
the water to the air, or by boiling, which will expel 
carbon dioxide, causing the carbonates of calcium and 
magnesium to be precipitated. It is this precipitation 
which causes the crust to form on the inside of boilers 
and kettles. 

Temporarily hard water is made hard by carbonates, 
while permanently hard water is made hard by sul- 
phates. These sulphates hinder the water from mak- 
ing suds, so that permanently hard water is unsuit- 
able for washing, but can be made suitable by the use 
of sodium carbonate (washing soda). If this is not 
done, thfe soap will combine with these salts, and a 
scum forms which is a greasy, insoluble curd. This* 
scum is called lime or magnesium soap, and will form 
in a boiler, a wash tub, or a washing machine unless 
live suds constantly exist. This lime soap streaks 

(52) 



Washing Agents. 53 

the clothes, often settles in between thicknesses of 

hem and tucks, and requires a garment to be rewashed. 

• An abundance of soap will soften the water, but it 

will be at the high cost of the price of soap, while 

washing soda, a very much less expensive agent, will 

soften it and will be inactive up to the amount required 

to soften the water. Whenever washing soda is used 

in connection with washing, it should be in the form 

of a solution, using only enough to produce lasting suds. 

Water when raised to a boiling temperature has great 

power as a disinfecting agent. 

Water cleans by dissolving dirt; 

by carrying away insoluble particles ; 

by forming an emulsion ; 

by sterilizing at boiling temperature. 

SOAP. 

Soap is considered today as an essential commodity in every 
civilized community. Some one has said that the civi- 
lization of a country is known by its soap bill. Soap 
is not only a cleaner but it is a disinfectant. 

As a cleaner, soap dissociates in water and forms 
suds which in turn act as an agent to carry off the 
dirt. This dirt is most often held in by greasy matter 
which is attacked by the alkali set free, and saponi- 
fied by it. 

As a disinfectant, soap is used in hospitals to sterilize 
hands and instruments; in laundries, to sterilize clothes; 
in toilet purposes, to sterilize skin; in homes, for dishes, 
refrigerators and general cleaning. An experiment 
once made on various soaps from all kinds of places 
and uses showed the great power of soap to destroy 



54 



Laundering. 



Pi 




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Washing Agents. 55 

germs. With all experiments made, no cultures could 
be found or grown, and soaps that were inoculated 
with germs possessed none after four hours. 
Kinds : 

Toilet. 
Laundry. 

The required ingredients for soap are fat and alkali 
(soda or potash). 

Quality of a soap depends on the cleanliness of its fat 
ingredient, upon the proportion of fat and alkali, and 
upon the kind and amount of foreign material. 

The fat should be clean, whether animal or vegetable 
fat. The vegetable fats, making a milder soap, are 
most often used for toilet soaps. Any animal fat is 
used alone or mixed with others, and even kitchen 
grease may be used. This fat may be used for the 
cheap toilet soaps, but more often is the foundation 
for laundry soaps. 

Foreign material is a term which may be applied 
to all substances not necessary to the actual formation 
of soap. These may be added to soaps to increase 
weight, to aid in cleansing, for medicinal uses, and 
for esthetic reasons. 

1. Resin to increase weight. 

Water to increase formation of suds. 

2. Soda 

Borax ^ to aid in cleansing. 

Ammonia • • • . ^ 

Kerosene by softening water. 

Benzine by cutting grease. 

3. Sand f to aid in cleansing 

Pumice \ by scratching. 



56 . Laundering. 

4. Medicines . . . ) 

Oils }■ for external treatments. 

Disinfectants J 

5. Perfume for esthetic reasons. 

Color to hide dirty fats. 

Weight Substances. — A certain amount of water — twelve 
to fourteen per cent — ^is good in a soap, as it keeps it 
sufficiently soft to cause it to blend readily with the 
water, and so quicldy and easily to make suds. Excess 
water makes soap soft, and may be an adulterant, if 
in very large quantities, for then it will add consider- 
able weight. When soap is purchased by the cake, 
the percentage of water seems of less moment, but 
should be guarded against when soap chips are bought 
by pound weight. 

Resin is a gum from trees. It is added to soaps because 
it produces a foam or false suds with water. To a 
certain extent this may clean, but as the suds are sticky 
and gum-like, it naturally forms gum layers on the 
boiler, and should the suds not hold, but a scum form, 
the resin will cause the scum to adhere to the clothes. 
Resin will be found in all yellow laundry soaps, and 
may be detected by the odor, and by a sticky fueling 
when handled. 

Soda, Borax, and Ammonia are alkalis which may soften 
the water, and so increase the suds, or may saponify 
(or cut) the grease, and so set the grease free. Borax 
and ammonia are such mild alkalis, we might consider 
them harmless. Soda is used in carbonate form (wash- 
ing soda). It is hard on the hands and injurious to 
wools, silks, and colors. It is better to buy a neutral 
soap, and when desired add soda in liquid form. It 



Washing Agents. 57 

is not only cheaper but safer. Sodium carbonate may 
be qualitatively tested by this simple means: 

Shave one tablespoon of soap. Place in beaker, 
cover with alcohol, about one cup. Place beaker over 
water bath. Heat slowly until all soap is dissolved. 
Strain or pour through filter paper. All pure soap will 
go through paper with alcohol. What remains is excess 
soda or foreign material. (This test will not show 
resin.) Excess alkali is roughly tested by litmus paper. 
Always test the center of a freshly cut cake of soap. 
Use red litmus and see if it turns blue. A water bath 
may be made with a large pan and a weight or ring 
in the bottom upon which to stand the beakers. 

Note. — Have low fire under alcohol so there will be 
no danger of fire. 

Kerosene in soap loosens the dirt in the same way that 
kerosene in the boiler used to do. Good rinsing should 
follow to remove odor. 

Benzine soaps are especially made and bought for spotting 
and cleaning. Benzine is a grease solvent. 

Sand and pumice are abrasive materials and clean by 
scratching. 

Medicine, oils, and disinfectants, like resorcin, quinine, 
olive oil and carbolic acid, are used for bathing and 
disinfecting scalp sores and delicate or diseased skin. 

Perfume and color should be accepted only in high quality 
soaps, as they may be used to cover up impurities in 
a cheap soap. 

To make Soda Solution for Soap Making: 

I. 1 lb. caustic soda, chemically pure. 
5 pts. water. 



58 Laundering. 

Dissolve the caustic soda in water and if this pro- 
portion is rightly measured the soda will be of the cor- 
rect strength, 20 Beaume, when tested with a Beaume 
tube, to be combined with pure clean fat. 

11. 1 can lye. 
1 qt. water. 

This is a household recipe and produces good results, 
but the soda is not of such pure quality. 

Prepare the fat by melting it and letting it • cook 
slowly with water or raw potato until the fat no longer 
crackles. This means the water has all evaporated 
and has deodorized the fat by its vaporizing and carry- 
ing off some of the odor. 

While still warm the fat should be strained through 
fine muslin (the usual household way), or through fine 
charcoal or clay. This latter is a slow process but 
gives a whiter fat and hence a whiter soap. 

To make the Soap use: 

1 lb. clean fat, warmed. 
14 oz. soda or lye solution. 

Stir with an agate spoon or a stick until the con- 
sistency of honey and then mold. 

To Mold. — Line an enamel pan or box with waxed paper, 
cutting the paper in strips so the comers will be smooth 
(like the paper in candy boxes) . Pour soap mixture 
in box and let stand until well formed. Before it dries 
remove the paper as one would from a warm cake. 
Any coloring, perfume or extra cleansing material should 
be added as the soap is saponifying and before the 
molding consistency is reached. 



Washing Agents. 59 

To Store. — Soap should be kept until sufficiently dry to 
not become soft and pasty as soon as wet. For rapid 
work soap can be too dry; therefore it is wise if one 
stores a box of soap to keep the half to be used last, 
wrapped, and unwrap the first lot. For quick drying 
stand the cakes on edge, leaving a space between, and 
stack log cabin fashion. 

Soap Solution for Boiling or for Washing Machine: 

Dissolve 1 lb. soap chips in 5 gals, of water; qr 
1 cake of soap in 2 qts. of water. 

Dissolve by heating at a low temperature. The 
color should be amber and not dark. Over-cooking 
soap makes the solution dark. 

If the water is very hard or the clothes very soiled, 
one half pound to one pound of washing soda may be 
added to the soap solution when soap is dissolved. 
Continue heating until all soda is dissolved. Soda 
"built in" to soap in this manner does little harm to 
any cotton or linen garment and is often not only a 
saver of soap where water is hard, but overcomes grease 
and heavily soiled clothes. 

Soap Recipes: 

Blanket Wash Solution. 

I. Soap for Washing Blankets. 

1 large bar Ivory Soap. 2 tablespoons borax. 
3 qts. cold water, J cup wood alcohol. 

Shave the soap into the cold water and heat to boil- 
ing point. When cold, add borax and alcohol. 

Put one quart of this solution into the first tub, one 
pint into the second tub and then rinse in clear water. 



60 Laundering. 

All three waters should be of the same temperature. 
Follow the rules above for washing. This solution will 
wash four pairs of blankets. 

II. Detergent. 

Ij oz. white castile soap. 1 oz. ether. 
1 oz. alcohol. 4 oz. ammonia. 

Cut soap fine and heat in one pint of soft water until 
dissolved. Then add three quarts of cold water and 
the other ingredients. For cleaning black goods, use 
one wine-glass of this liquid in one pint of warm water. 
If this makes the article too stiff, add more water. 
For removing spots from woolen goods, as men's cloth- 
ing, apply (only slightly diluted) with a sponge. It is 
always safer to test any cleansing solution with a piece 
of the material before attempting to remove stain, as 
the ether may affect the color. 

Soap Substitutes: 

Bran water. 
Starch water. 
Soap bark water. 

Recipes in chapter on colored clothes, page 105-106. 

STARCH AND STARCHING. 

Starch is of vegetable origin, found in the seeds, roots and 
tubers of vegetables and the seeds of grains. From 
the cookery point of view we have many starches, but 
the laundress chooses only those which give a desired 
degree of stiffness and still keep the fabric pliable; 
that give a body which is as lasting as possible and one 



Washing Agents. 61 

which will resist moisture; that give clear, good color 
as well as gloss or finish. 

Kinds used: 

Com. 

Wheat. 

Rice. 

Mixed or "blended." 

Com starch is the most commonly used because of 
its cheapness and because the others have not been 
sufficiently considered. As the industry has advanced 
we find packages of wheat and rice starch on the 
grocery shelves and mixed or blended starches in the 
laundry supply houses. Today starches are rated 
according to their ability to make a paste which pene- 
trates the fiber and at the same time resists moisture. 
This power to make a paste is called viscosity. Com 
has the greater viscosity and so plays an important 
part in the blended starches, where it furnishes the 
resisting power to the fabric while wheat gives pliability. 
The "blending" proportion or recipe varies for the 
work the starch is to do. The rule is about two-thirds 
corn to one-third wheat when blended for collars, cuffs 
and shirt bosoms, while two-thirds wheat and one- 
third com is more often the ratio used for body clothes. 
Blended starches are used by the launderer. He buys 
the starch blended (even to having borax and paraffine 
added), or he buys two kinds and blends in his own 
way. Wheat has a lesser viscosity, while rice has the 
least. In all fine lingerie work today we find the expert 
launderer using rice starch. It is most expensive, but 
gives just the new finish to the fabric. All starch is 
in the form of minute granules which are tasteless. 



62 



Laundering. 



odorless, white and distinguishable from each other 
only by a microscope which shows each granule to have 
its characteristic shape and size. 

Solubility. — Starch granules are insoluble in cold water, 
only swelling with moisture; when heat is applied, the 



Potato. 



Com. 



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Rice. 



Wheat. 



cellulose covering bursts, forming a thick, sticky mass 
which is the paste used. 

To make. — Starch paste may be made in two ways, but in 
both the principle is the same. In either case cold 
water must be added to the white powder to separate 



Washing Agents. 63 

the grains, as they are so fine they mass together when 
dry, and lump if heat is added before the graniiles are 
separated. Heat may be appHed in two ways. The 
home method of making starch is to add the right 
amount of boiling water to the cold water and starch, 
while the commercial method and one good for large 
quantity work is to pour into the measured water, 
which is boiling, the mixture of cold water and starch 
granules. The borax, alum and fat raay be added to 
the cold water mixture. The granules begin to break 
at 120° F.; all are broken at 212° F. Starch should 
be boiled gently for fifteen minutes, care being taken 
to prevent burning. 

Directions for Use.— Use the starch hot and strain first 
before using; this prevents lumpy starch and starch 
with a skin. In commercial laundries starch is kept 
hot in steam kettles. This same idea raay be used 
in the home by standing the saucepan in a pan of 
water, or, if the quantity warrants, by using the fire- 
less cooker. 

A little bluing is usually added to the starch paste, 
because the hot starch extracts some bluing from the 
garments. 

To Starch. — The garments should be free from excess 
moisture, which would dilute the starch and make the 
degree of stiffness irregular, and the garment should 
be wrong side out. This prevents any possibilities of 
irregularly made or used starch from showing on the 
surface after ironing. Work the paste well into the 
fabric, then wring out all excess starch and end by 
rubbing the left-over starch well into the pores of the 
fabric. Starch well cooked and rubbed in will give 



64 Laundering. 

little trouble. (Irons for starched clothes must be 
clean and hot.) 

Clear Starching is used for lingerie work and lace curtains, 
and means that the starch paste is only thick enough 
to produce a new appearance in the fabric and in a 
way make it look as if starched. Rice starch is best 
for this, or we may dilute wheat or com starch by add- 
ing more water and reducing either to almost a watery 
consistency — as some one has said, "like city milk." 
The starch paste is so thin for clear starching that it 
will not permit of fiu-ther dilution ; so the clear-starched 
garment is rolled for one-half to one hour and ironed 
"out of the starch," i. e., without drying or sprinkling. 

Heavy Starching is used for collars, cuffs, and shirt bosoms 
where we want a heavy garment to resist moisture 
and soil and to not crack easily. All com starch, or 
com and wheat starch in proportion of two-thirds to 
one-third, is best suited for this work. This starch on 
cooling enough to handle is like a very soft jelly. The 
collars and cuffs and bosoms are dried and then starched. 
The starch is rubbed in until every thickness is wet 
with starch and each is glued to its neighbor. The 
dried garment has been forced to take up enough 
starch to be thoroughly wet, stripes of the pattern are 
straightened now, blisters are worked, surplus material 
caused by bad making or cutting is pushed to the 
part where it may be hidden and with a damp cheese- 
cloth all shining starch on the surface is wiped off. 
The properly heavy-starched garment should be hung 
straight, without folds or mussing, and is then ready 
for the glossing and smoothing of the hot iron. Three- 
fourths of the work of the ironer has been done by 



Washing Agents. 65 

the starcher. This whole process is quite like that of 
mounting a photograph where straightness, smoothness 
and no blisters are essential. 

Uncooked Starch requires much greater work in the iron- 
ing, for in this method the iron really makes the paste 
by cooking the starch as it passes over the collar or 
cuff. It will be found that the fiber absorbs the un- 
cooked starch readily and consequently will make it 
a stiff er garment. Because of the difficult ironing after 
this method we find most experts making a heavy 
starch as described on page 64. 

A cold starch is being used today. It is a mixture 
of cooked and raw starch. The cooked starch helps 
to keep the uncooked from settling and hence separating. 

Starch Accessories.— Among these we may find borax, 
paraffine, wax, turpentine, kerosene, lard. 

Borax and alum increase the color, pliability and 
gloss of the starch. Alum thins the starch without 
affecting the strength of the mixture. 

The waxes and fats should be white, and are used 
to make a smoother starch, one that will not adhere 
to the iron so easily. Turpentine and kerosene may 
introduce an odor. Butter is not so suitable as lard 
because of its color. 

Starch Substitutes such as borax, gum arable, glue and 
dextrine may be used with the starch, but are often 
substitutes. They are especially good for silks and 
for colors where one fears the whiteness of starch may 
be seen. 

Glue may be used for dark colored fabrics, but has 
been substituted now by a ''mourning starch" which 
is so darkened in manufacture that it does not show 
white on blues and browns. 



66 



Laundering. 



Tinting Starches by tea liquor, bluing, and saffron, makes it 
possible to starch any color and not have it show and 
also makes it possible to replace some color that may 
have faded in washing. 

Tea makes good ivory, old lace, and ecru colors. 
It is better than coffee, as the liquor is more likely to 
be clear and there is less odoj*. Cook a cheap black 
tea (about one tablespoon to one pint of water) until 
a strong colored liquor is made. This tea water must 
take the place of some of the clear water allowed in 
the starch recipe or the starch will be too thin. 

Tinted starches should be treated first on a small 
piece to see if the color is good. Remember it will be 
lighter when dry. 



Recipes : 
















Water. 


Borax. 


Fat. 


Starch. 




Corn. 


Wheat. 


Rice. 


Heavy starch 


1 qt. 


2 tsp. 


h tsp. 


3 tb. 


5 tb. 


5 tb. 


Thin starch 


1 qt. 


h tsp. 


h tsp. 


li tb. 


2i tb. 


2i tb. 


Clear starch 


1 qt. 


h tsp. 


h tsp. 


hth. 


1 tb. 


1 tb. 


Raw starch 


1 qt. 


\ tsp. 


h tsp. 


1 tb. 


U tb. 


Utb. 


Gum arabic, 1 tb. . . 


1 qt. 













tb. = tablespoon, tsp. = teaspoon, c. =cup. pt. =pint. qt. —quart. 



BLUES AND BLUING. 

Blues come from a vegetable, mineral or chemical source. 
They are bought either in a liquid or solid form — 
balls, blocks, crystals, powders. Color tones of the 
different blues vary considerably; the chemical variety 
being a violet or blue blue, or greenish blue; the min- 



Blues and Bluing. 67 

eral, a blue blue; and the vegetable, a dull, dark blue. 
A comparison of the cost of different blues proves one 
cheaper than the other, for some may be used entirely 
while in others there is considerable waste material of 
a clay nature. 

Bluing is used to counteract the tendency to yellow- 
ness of white clothes. The amount used in any case 
varies according to the material and weave. 

Kinds used: 

Indigo. 
Ultramarine. 
Prussian. 
Aniline. 

Indigo, the oldest known blue, comes in powder or lump 
form. It is obtained through fermentation of the 
indigo plant. The liquid product secured by means 
of this process is agitated in order to oxidize the indigo 
plant. The blue pigment is the result of this aerating 
process. Several other treatments are necessary before 
the crude product is in marketable form. 

The process of making indigo blue is tedious, and 
the quantity obtained per plant is very small. This 
bluing is therefore expensive. The color is a dull dark 
blue, looking almost black when in lumps. Its lack 
of brightness of color and the cost of manufacturing 
it has caused this blue to be almost abandoned as a 
laundry blue. 

Ultramarine Blue comes in ball or block form and occa- 
sionally is a powder. The ultramarine of the laundry 
is not now the natural product, lapis lazuli, but the 
artificial by-product obtained from the soda industry. 



68 Laundering. 

Its composition is very similar to the blue mineral 
formerly used, having china clay or kaolin as a basis. 
It is believed that the ultramarine blue is a double 
silicate of sodium and aluminum with sodium sulphide 
in addition. Different samples of this blue may show 
slight differences of composition on analysis. 

The color is a bright blue. This blue is used com- 
monly in the home but not in commercial laundries. 
When the large amount of clay material in the blue 
and, consequently, its small capacity for bluing is con- 
sidered, it is not difficult to realize that this bluing is 
not cheap when compared with others. See analysis 
of blues, page 71. 

Prussian Blue has copperas and potassium ferrocyanide 
as a basis. The blue usually appears in liquid form, 
only occasionally as a powder. 

The color is greenish blue. This blue is a favorite 
with many family laundresses. If used after clothes 
have been carelessly rinsed, the iron in its composition 
will probably prove troublesome by the soap, which 
is carried into the bluing water, making an iron com- 
pound which later appears as rust spots on the clothes. 
When compared with other bluings, this is by no means 
as cheap a bluing as many consider it. 

Aniline Blue comes in a powder or crystal form. It is 
always converted into a liquid state before using. It, 
too, is an artificial blue, being a by-product from coal 
tar. 

Aniline gives a great variety in color, the extremes 
being a blue blue and purple blue. This variety of 
color is valued, for the different tones lend themselves 



Blues and Bluing. 69 

to the launderer's skill in obtaining the color of dif- 
ferent fabrics that is desired. This bluing is sold by 
the ounce or pound and may be bought from any 
laundry supply house. One ounce makes a gallon of 
liquid blue. This blue is strong, so only a small quan- 
tity is required. Comparing this blue with others, it 
proves cheaper and more effective, as it gives clear 
color to clothes. The aniline blue of the laundry is 
soluble. 

Properties. — Indigo, besides not having a good color itself, 
and therefore not being able to give good color to 
clothes, does not stand heat from the iron well. 

Ultramarine decomposes in presence of acids — its large 
proportion of clay material is a large factor against 
its use. 

Prussian disintegrates when it stands for a long 
• time in sunlight. Alkali in connection with heat will 
break it up, giving an iron precipitate. 

Aniline will be but slightly affected by strong alkalis 
and will stand heat from the iron. 

Solubility. — The different blues vary greatly in solubility: 

Indigo is largely insoluble. 

Ultramarine is not entirely soluble, for there is the 
clay carrier which is insoluble. 

Prussian in commercial form and aniline are entirely 
soluble. 

To Make. — 1. Bluing from liquid blues. 

To the tub of water, pour in a small quantity of the 
liquid blue and stir with the hand to blend. If not 
the required color, add small quantities at a time, 
stirring each time. To test the bluing to see if it is 



70 - Laundering. 

deep enough, lift up a little in the hand or put some 
in a clear glass. It may be tested with a small piece 
of fabric. 

2. All powdered blues must be made into liquid 
form before using. 

To prepare aniline blue: 

1 oz. aniline blue (powder). 
1 gal. water. 

Stir until dissolved and then filter through filter 
paper or several thicknesses of fine cheese-cloth. Bottle. 
A much smaller quantity of this liquid aniline blue will 
be needed to make bluing than of any of the other 
liquid bluings on the market. Test as under No. 1. 

3. Bluing from solid blues — ball or block or lump. 

Tie a quantity in a flannel or in three or four thick- 
nesses of cheese-cloth. This blue bag is dipped into 
the tub of water and squeezed, then the water is stirred 
to blend the blue. This process is repeated until the 
right tone is obtained. Test as under No. 1. 

To Use. — Before using, the bluing should be stirred each 
time to blend. In case of the indigo and ultramarine 
blues, settling of particles of blue is very noticeable 
if bluing has stood for only a short time. Each article 
washed should be shaken out before putting into the 
blue tub. Only a few pieces should be put in at a time. 
Stirring the blue each time it is used, shaking out each 
piece, and leaving in the blue for a few minutes only, 
will prevent streaking. It is better to dip a garment 
several times rather than allow it to stay in the blue 
tub for any length of time. 

Effect of Bluing on Different Weaves. — Materials that are 
open in weaves, as table linen, laces, etc., will take the 



Blues and Bluing. 71 

blue very readily; therefore, bluing for them should be 
light in tone. For closely woven material, as sheets, 
etc., the blue should be considerably deeper. 

To Remove Blue. — Clothes that are too blue, as a result 
of bluing being made too deep in color or from an accu- 
mulation of repeated bluings, should be put into boil- 
ing water and allowed to remain for a half hour. When 
the excess blue will not yield to this treatment, clothes 
should be boiled. 

Tinting. — For very dark blue or black material, the bluing 
should be made very deep in color in order to be of 
any use to these colors. 

Experiments for Testing Blues. 

Equipment needed for experiments: 
Test tube rack. 

Test tubes — two for each bluing. 
Funnels — one for each bluing. 
Filter paper. 

Strong alkali — as caustic soda. 
Dilute hydrochloric acid. 
Some means of heating test tube. 
Knife to scrape balls of block into powder. 

1. Test for Solubility. 

Small quantity of blue to be tested. 

Mix well with water and filter. 

Material left on the filter paper shows the insoluble 
portion of the blue. The liquid portion that has passed 
through the filter will show by its tone how much or 
how little blue has gone through. 

Blues that are quite insoluble, blue clothes by deposit- 
ing fine particles evenly on the fabric. In order to 
get fine particles, the blue is squeezed through fine 



72 Laundering. 

meshes of flannel or several thicknesses of cheese- 
cloth, and the tub of blue is stirred in order to keep 
particles in suspension. 

2. Test for Iron in Blue. 

Small quantity of blue and water mixed well in test 
tube. Add small quantity of alkali — as caustic soda— 
and heat the contents of the tube. This can be easily 
done by holding the test tube in a pan of boiling water. 

If the blue is an iron or Prussian blue, a heavy red 
precipitate will form. It is this change that takes 
place when the hot iron is run over fabric that has 
been carelessly washed and rinsed and a Prussian blue 
has been used. The alkali of the soap combines with 
the blue, resulting in deposits of iron oxide or iron 
rust. 

3. Test for Foreign Materials in Blue. 

Filter papers with results of Experiment 2 should 
be carefully washed with dilute hydrochloric acid, 
five per cent. 

Aniline blues are not affected. Ultramarine blue 
will yield their blue color and a gray colored clay 
material will remain on the filter paper. The propor- 
tion of the clay material to the amount tested is very 
large. With the change of color from blue to gray, 
a distinct odor of hydrogen sulphide will be noted. 

Prussian blue will react to its original color on wash- 
ing the filter paper containing the iron residue with 
the acid, and the iron deposit will disappear, having 
been changed into soluble form. 

Note. — For young children who would not appre- 
ciate the change taking place in test tubes, the first 



Cleansing Agents. 73 

two experiments might be done in a way to appeal to 
them. (1) If bluing has been made from ultramarine 
blue, and allowed to stand, the deposit of blue particles 
will show plainly, even in the blue tub, showing insolu- 
bility of blue. 

If a piece of cloth is washed with ordinary yellow 
laundry soap, which usually has excess alkali, and 
rinsed sparingly, then blued with a Prussian blue — 
when the hot iron is applied, rust spots will usually 
appear or the cloth will be quite yellow in tint com- 
pared with the new piece from which the child has 
torn the test piece. 



CLEANSING AGENTS. 

Alum. 

Na2S04, AI2 (804)3, 24H2O. Very soluble in water, having 
astringent acid and sweetish taste; litmus test acid; loses 
water of crystallization on heating. Commercial alum — 
potash alum. 

Uses in laundry : Salts of alum used in dyeing, mordanting ; 
clarifying turbid liquid; alone or with borax in starch to 
improve color, increase penetrability and pliability, and to 
thin starch mixture. 

Borax. 

Na2B407, 7H2O. A colorless, well crystallized salt; reac- 
tion, alkaline. Milder than washing soda, but effective as 
a cleaner, a disinfectant and a bleach. Being weaker in 
its action, more of it must be used to produce a given result. 
It is much less irritating to the skin and less injurious to 
fabrics and colors. 



74 Laundering. 

Magnesium. 

Malleable, ductile metal of the color and brilliancy of 
silver; reaction slightly alkaline. 

Uses: Magnesia, MgO, used in cleaning white felts, vel- 
vets, etc. 

"Benzinized magnesia," for grease spots on silk: mix 
calcined magnesia with just enough pure benzine to make 
moist, crumbly mass. Spread thickly over spot and rub 
thoroughly with finger-tips. Brush off lumps, and when 
benzine has evaporated, brush off all particles. 

"Etherized magnesia" also used for spots. 

Caustic Potash. 

KOH. Used to make soaps. Strong alkali unless com- 
bined with fat as a soap. Neutral olive-oil potash soap, 
less deleterious effect on wool and silk fibers than soa'p, but 
not so cheap. 

Potassium Permanganate. 

K2Mno08 or K2MNO4. Manufacture : To ten parts satu- 
rated solution caustic soda add seven parts potassium 
chlorate and eight parts manganese dioxide; evaporate and 
heat until potassium chlorate decomposes; treat with boil- 
ing water, filtered, and filtrate crystallized. Crystallizes in 
rhombic needles of a very dark purple color. A very soluble 
salt, forming a purplish-red solution. 

Uses in laundry: Oxidizing agent; removing stains; it 
bleaches by its free oxygen. Five per cent solution used — 
one gram in one liter of water. Oxidizing agent; bleaches 
out with oxalic acid. Removes stubborn stains of most any 
source on all fibers. 



Cleansing Agents. 75 

Washing or Sal Soda. 

Na2C03, ION2O. An alkali, soluble in water. Strong 
reaction, therefore: 

Unsuitable for colored clothes; hardens and yellows 
woolens. 

Good for soaking of coarse dirty clothes; it should be dis- 
solved in water before adding to water for soaking. 

Softens water and saponifies grease and acts on dirt, 
rendering both removable by water. 

Alkaline base for soaps. 

Care: Keep in covered jar, as it effervesces in dry air. 

Kerosene. 

Colorless oil. Manufacture: Crude oil obtained by boring 
tube wells through shale into sand rock; refined. Products: 
Naphthas, including benzine and gasoline, kerosene or coal 
oil, vaseline and paraffin. 

Has solvent and bleaching property. 

Uses: As fuel; in so-called naphtha soaps; to clean rust 
from irons, lampblack, stains from wringer, spots from porce- 
lain, in starch to give gloss; in boiling process: two table- 
spoons, saves rubbing, but necessitates thorough rinsing. 

Gasoline first and highest distillant of cmde petroleum. 
All gasoline is naphtha in the manufacturing laboratory. 
Gravities : 

50 — 60 Beaume ...:.. Varnishes and paints. 

65 — 68 Beaume Oilcloth manufacture. 

68 — 76 Beaume Burners in automobiles. 

Higher grades Cleaning, and for mixing with lower 

grade gasoline containing some 
grease from lower distillation. 



76 Laundering. 

Ether and Chloroform. 

(C2H5)20. Ether and chloroform used as anesthetics, but 
of some importance in cleaning on account of solvent powers. 

Ether manufacture: Strong sulphuric acid on alcohol. 
Very volatile, boils at 35° C, soluble in water. 

Ether magnesia for stains: Mix calcined magnesia with 
enough ether to make paste. Spread over spot. After ether 
has evaporated, brush magnesia from garment and rub with 
piece of soft white bread. 

CHCI3. Chloroform: Heavy, clear, colorless liquid, 
sweet burning taste; boils at 61° C. Solvent for iodine, 
wax, etc. Should be kept well covered and in a dark place. 

Uses in cleaning : 

Chloroform solvent for fats, alkaloids and iodine; ether 
for these and also resins, etc. 

Chloroform is non-inflammable, so safer to use than ether, 
which is both inflammable and explosive. 

Dry cleaners use these chemicals for spotting agents. 
They must be absolutely chemically pure or they may make 
stains. 

Ether used in combination with other ingredients to make 
cleaning fluids. One for leather tissues: One part ether to 
four parts turpentine. 

Price prohibits extensive use, especially since benzine is 
much cheaper and very efficient. 

Chloroform, like ether, may extract color. 

Turpentine. 

C10H16. A resinous exudation from trees like pines; found 
notably in section of Mediterranean. It is a solvent, having 
special power on varnish, paint and vaseline. It may be 
used in place of paraffin in m.aking starch. 



Cleansing Agents. 77 

Paraffin, Gasoline, Benzine. 

A hydrocarbon obtained in the distillation of crude 
petroleum. Volatile, but has a disagreeable odor which 
clings to clothes unless hung for a time in the open air. 
Very inflammable. 

Used as a grease solvent and for cleaning metal work of 
machinery. 

Crude petroleum yields fifteen per cent gasoline for all 
gravities, and four per cent gasoline for gravities above 70 
Beaume. 

Formerly gasoline disposed of as waste in effort to make 
kerosene. 

Highest gravity — 90 specific gravity — is highly volatile, 
so nearly gas that when exposed to air it evaporates very 
rapidly. Cannot be confined in barrels by any care — ^paint, 
wax, etc. — so is not put out commercially. 

Cleaning : 

"Dry cleaning" — cleaning without water. Removes 
grease, because it is a solvent for fatty materials. 

Gasoline should be colorless, mobile, leave no residue on 
evaporation. Its great danger is inflammability. Dry 
cleaners mix it with carbon tetrachloride, a grease solvent, 
leaving no ring. Very expensive and has anesthetic effect on 
workers. 

Benzine, if not free from water, will form damp spots on 
garment, which retain their dirt and also attract dirt from 
immediate surroundings. Pure benzine should have violet 
color when treated with potassium iodide. 

Benzine soaps — rubbed on soiled spots before garment is 
put into machine for cleaning. 

All work with benzine should be done in airy rooms, in 
daylight, and in rooms free from all flames. Best to have a 
separate building. 



78 Laundering. 

Purification of benzine after using : Filter through sand and 
sawdust; this removes mechanically all gritty material." 

Storage of naphtha — in separate building or outside. Two 
things to guard against: (1) loss from evaporation, and (2) 
safety from fire. 

Alcohol. 

CH3OH. Wood spirit; distilled from wood. Used to 
dissolve resins, fats, oils, etc., and in making aniline. De- 
natured alcohol — methylated spirit. 

C2H5OH. Commercial alcohol; made by fermentation of 
glucose and distillation of products. Colorless, mobile 
liquid. Bums readily with blue flame, producing great 
heat and liberating CO2 and H2O. 

Alcohol used as a grease .solvent. 

Acetic Acid. 

CH3COOH. Important organic acid. Found in vinegar. 
Commercial: Thirty per cent solution, colorless, having 
pleasant odor and sharp taste. Excellent solvent for many 
drugs. 

It is useful in laundry to set colors, and for the removal 
of glue stains. It is used to develop some aniline blues. 

Citric Acid. 

(CH2)2COH(COOH)3. Colorless crystals, not soluble in 
ether. First obtained by Karl W. Scheele in 1784 from juice 
of lemon. Also found in many other fruits and in some 
bulbs and tubers. 

Used as a b^leach and will remove iron rust. It is not as 
strong as oxalic acid. 



Cleansing Agents. 79 

Hydrochloric Acid. 

HCl. Muriatic acid. Colorless gas, having pungent 
odor and taste. Fumes strongly when exposed to air. Com- 
mercial product is gas dissolved in water; this commercial 
product usually yellow and contains impurities, as arsenic, 
sulphuric acid, chlorine, ferric chloride and sulphurous acid. 
Never used by launderers. 

Hypochlorous acid, by-product of HCl industry, used in 
laundry for bleaching. 

HCl used for iron-rust stains. 

Oxalic Acid. 

(C00H)2, H2O. Oldest known organic acid. Found in 
many plants, as wood, some rhubarb roots. Poisonous, 
and care should be taken to label it plainly. 

Used in laundry to extract iron rust, and as bleach, either 
alone or with potassium permanganate. Used to clean straw 
hats, but should be most thoroughly rinsed out. Used to 
clean metal washing machines. 

Waxes. 

Allied to fatty acids and oils, but distinguished from them 
by absence of glycerin. Vegetable origin — wax tree, whose 
fruit has waxy covering; bayberries. Animal origin — bees. 

Beeswax is solid fatty substance secreted by bees in con- 
structing hives, and composed of three chemical principles — 
myricin, cerin and cerilein. It undergoes bleaching in the sun. 
Sold either yellow or white. Costs sixty cents per pound. 

Used in laundry for cleaning irons and as a coating on irons 
to prevent rust. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PREPARATION OF THE WASH. 

From the laundry point of view, Tuesday is a much 
better home laundry day, because it allows Monday for 
preparation. The preparation does much to economize 
effort and time on the busy day. 

Mending is considered the first stage of preparation. Often 
a stitch before the wash saves nine after. 

All mending of table linen, bureau scarfs, trimming 
on underwear and children's dresses can easily be done 
before the washing. Again, it saves wrinkling the well- 
ironed garment. Stockings and underwear are easily 
mended after, and it is usually preferred to do so. If 
the clothes are to be sent out, counting and marking 
will be necessary. Again, the plainer garments will be 
hkely to require less mending, and are economical in 
requiring less work before the wash as well as after. 

Counting, if goods are sent to a commercial laundry, may 
be made easy by good laundry list pads. Two lists 
should be made, one for the laundry and one for refer- 
ence. Be careful that the count is accurate, as this is 
the only way to avoid loss. 

Marking may be done before the new piece is put into use, 
and if well marked the mark will last as long as the 
garment. There are many ways to mark, but the 
best way is the one that is least conspicuous and most 
lasting. 

(80) 



Preparation oj the Wash. 81 

Pen and ink on woven tapes are the best and the 
neatest. Embroidered initials and monograms are of 
course the most ornamental, but they involve much 
work and are not the most lasting, but the most sure 
for laundry that is sent out. 

A fine-pointed steel pen (No. 00) or a glass pen will 
make marking easy. To make the marking lasting, 
the dressing should be washed out or rubbed soft to 
allow the ink to penetrate the fabric, and a warm iron 
should follow the marking to set the ink. 

Marking inks may be purchased in small bottles or 
in pound or quart quantities for institutional work. 

Payson, Carter, Stafford and all ink manufacturers 
put out good indelible inks and several have little 
marking outfits which sell for a small sum and contain 
ink, marking frame and suitable pens. 

Sorting is an important stage in the process of preparing. 
A good sorter sorts for color, putting pinks and blues, 
etc., in their color pile; sorts for separation of woolens 
and silks from cotton and linen and always puts in a 
pile those garments which are especially delicate and 
need special care in laundering — perhaps being washed 
by themselves to eliminate pulling and the chance for 
tearing. 

This is sorting for colors and fabrics, but a still 
important division must be made which is not dependent 
upon fabric or color — that is, sorting out for preliminary 
treatment all stained garments which may have their 
stains permanently established if allowed to reach soap 
and water. 

For stains see chapter on Stains. 



CHAPTER IX. 



PROCESS OF WASHING ALL WHITE CLOTHES. 



hod of Washing : 






Soaking. 


Bluing. 


Stretching, 


Washing. 


Starching. 


Folding. 


Rinsing. 


Hanging. 


Ironing. 


BoiHng. 


Drying. 


Folding. 


Rinsing. 


Sprinkling. 





Soaking Clothes. — With the cleaner clothes, soaking is 
unnecessary, but if clothing is very soiled, the dirt will 
yield more readily if the garment is soaked for several 
hours in water to which some reagent, preferably soap, 
has been added. The clothing then requires less rub- 
bing and for that reason garments thus treated do not 
wear out so quickly. 

Washing. — This is a mechanical means of removing dirt in 
which a clothes board or washing machine is used and 
the clothes are rubbed or agitated in soapy water to 
remove the dirt. If some of the clothes are very coarse 
and dirty, they may be cleaned with a short, small 
scrubbing brush. This is good for hand towels and 
overalls. The clothes are washed first on the right side 
and then are turned and washed on the wrong side. 

If clothes have been soaked over night, on wash- 
day morning wring them out of this water. Then fill 
the tub half full of hot water and put in the clothes, 
rub with soap, and wash. Turn wrong side during wash- 
ing so both sides may be clean. When washed, wring 

(82) 



Process of Washing all White Clothes. 83 

from this water, rinse and soap the articles, and place 
in the boiler if they are to be boiled. 

Rinsing. — After the washing, the clothes may be rinsed in 
clear water so as to remove any loose dirt before putting 
them into the boiler. Rinsing 'floats off dirt loosened 
by rubbing. 

Boiling. — The clothes, after being rinsed, are wrung and 
soaped all over, and placed in the boiler with clear cold 
water. Do not pack so solidly as to prevent floating. 
Small pieces of soap may be thrown into the boiler for 
suds, as good suds are necessary. After coming to a 
boil the clothes should boil briskly for five minutes; 
briskly, so as to keep the scum from settling on them. 
This scum will not form if sufficient soap has been used 
to soften the water. 

Stir and press clothes down in boiler with a wooden 
stick. When clothes are scalded (five minutes boil is 
sufficient for most clothes) take out of boiler, place in a 
tub of clean hot water, then cold. 

When the first set of clothes is scalding, rub. out the 
second, in the same manner, and then continue with the 
third, until all the clothes are washed. 

Rinsing is again necessary after boiling because plenty of 
water and thorough rinsing are essential to good work. 
It is better to rinse in two clear waters before putting 
into the blue water. The first rinse should be hot to 
remove soap and greasy scum, the second should be 
cold to prepare the clothes for the blue. Clothes should 
always be rinsed well before bluing, as the soap and blue 
may combine and cause iron-rust spotting. It is not 
possible to over-rinse; in fact, three rinses before bluing 
are better than two. 



84 Laundering. 

Bluing. — Blue water is made by adding blue to clear cold 
water. If lumps, balls or blocks of blue are used, they 
should be tied in a cloth and then rubbed in the water 
until the water is the required color. Test by holding 
in the palm of the hand or by bluing a small garment. 
Blue water should not be too deep in color. The bag 
of bluing should be tightly squeezed before putting it 
away, to prevent the wasting of the blue, or else kept in 
a cup and this liquid used the next time. Blues vary, so 
it is impossible to give a definite amount, but use will 
soon teach. In making the bluing, the water should be 
well stirred each time before more blue is added. The 
clothes should be opened well before going into the 
bluing, so that they will not be streaked with blue. 
The clothes, if quite yellow, may remain in the blue 
water longer — otherwise two or three dippings in water 
is enough. The water should be well stirred every time 
the clothes are added, as the blue may settle to the 
bottom, and streak the clothes. After bluing, the clothes 
are wrung and are then starched, or not, as is necessary, 
and then hung. 

(See chapter on Blues and Bluing.) 

Starching. — Thickness of starch depends upon the articles 
to be starched. Starch is used: (1) for stiffening 
clothes; (2) to make them look well by giving the gloss 
of new material; (3) to keep them clean longer, because 
starch causes them to resist moisture. Borax is added 
to starch to give a gloss and to whiten and stiffen the 
clothes. The wax, paraffin or lard added to starch 
serves to keep the iron from sticking. 

In using cold starch, the articles should be thoroughly 
dry before being starched or they will not take up enough 
starch to make them stiff. Each article should be 



Process of Washing all White Clothes. 85 

squeezed and placed in a cloth, rolled tightly and allowed 
to stand about one hour before ironing. Wrap like kinds 
together. Garments that are cold starched are harder 
to iron. So-called heavy starching takes the place of 
cold starch for collars and cuffs in most laundries. 
(See chapter on Starch and Starching.) 

Hanging should be in the open air. The line should be 
perfectly clean and the pins clean. The line should not 
be left out to get soiled, and the line and pins should be 
scrubbed well when soiled, or boiled in soap and water. 
Always shake the garments well, hang straight, and with 
the wind, i. e., so the wind will blow through the garment 
rather than against it. 

Drying. — After clothes have been blued and starched, if they 
are to be, they should be hung out to dry. Sheets and 
table-cloths should be washed first, as they take a longer 
time to dry. Lines should be fastened very securely; 
always wipe with a damp cloth before hanging clothes on 
them. See that clothes-pins are clean and unbroken. 
Every piece of clothing should be turned wrong side out 
before being put on the line. Hang articles of the same 
kind together. White clothes should be hung in the sun, 
colored clothes and flannels in the shade. Fasten by 
bands if possible, never by corners, as the strain is apt 
to tear the garment. Care should be taken to have 
clothes well pinned to the line to avoid loss and to avoid 
tearing. If enough of the garment is laid over the line 
before pinning there will be less danger from tearing than 
if just corners and edges are pinned. Starched articles 
are better not hung in a strong wind, as it takes the starch 
out of the fabric. 



86 Laundering. 

Sprinkling. — Clothes are sprinkled, rolled and allowed to 
stand an hour or so, sometimes over night, before iron- 
ing. If they stand some time they will be more evenly 
dampened and will iron more easily. Pound the rolls 
to distribute the moisture. Warm water will penetrate 
the clothes more quickly than cold. Various sprinkling 
devices, such as spray nozzles, sprinkling cans, sprayers 
for bottles, whisk brooms, and a regular sprinkler for 
clothes (like a flour sifter), makes the work easier and 
more rapid. 

In warm, muggy weather it will be found safer to 
sprinkle the clothes early on ironing morning, as this 
warm, moist condition may cause mildew to grow. If 
mildew does form it may, in its early stage, be washed 
off, but it must be very freshly formed. Otherwise 
see Mildew — chapter on Stains, page 48. 

Stretching. — While the clothes are damp from the sprinkling 
they should be pulled and stretched into shape. 

Folding. — Fold and roll tightly so the moisture may penetrate 
all parts ; and, again, the folding will keep garment moist 
until ready to iron. This step in the process, if carefully 
done, will mean much toward ease and rapidity of iron- 
ing. Line the basket with heavy white cloth and pack 
the rolls of clothes close together, placing the starched 
pieces in the center of the basket. 

For convenience and efficiency, napkins and table- 
cloths may be folded together, as they need to be more 
heavily sprinkled. Sheets, towels and pillow cases need 
the least moisture . Starched pieces should be very damp . 

Ironing. — Certain rules will help the ironer, but it is an art, 
and the best results will only come from the practice of 
frequent doing. All embroideries and laces should be 



Process oj Washing all White Clothes. 87 

ironed on the wrong side with a soft pad underneath so 
the pattern may sink into the pad and not be flattened 
by the iron. Tucks should be pulled taut and ironed 
lengthwise, and at the same time downward from top 
tuck to bottom tuck. Iron dry each part before begin- 
ning a new part. Goods left half dry or half ironed will 
pucker and look rough dry when finished. Ruffles 
should be ironed by holding straight on the hem edge 
and then by ironing up into the gathers. "Nose" 
the iron well between the gathers. A small-pointed 
iron will assist in this work. Ruffles, like sleeves, in 
fact all parts of the garment that may be ironed and 
allowed to hang over the board, should be done first. 

All hems, tucks and bands require extra pressing, as 
they are thick. Use heavy broad irons for heavy bed- 
ding and table linen, and lighter, more pointed irons 
for body clothes. The irons should be smooth and very 
clean and sufficiently hot to "hiss" when touched with 
the moistened finger. An iron that is too cool will not 
be hot enough to cause the moisture to turn instantly 
into steam, and the moisture may be seen to bubble on 
the iron. An iron that is too hot will cause the moisture 
to evaporate so instantly there will be scarcely a sound. 
Beware of this kind, as it means scorch, which of course 
is more or less injurious to the fabric. 

Folding. — Care should be taken to fold clothes according to 
directions given under special chapters. Much depends 
on the folding. Let hang to air. Draw clothes-horse 
near the table, and fold garment by laying it first on the 
table and then into its particular fold. Clothing to be 
mended should be set to one side, and in this way there 
is no need of unnecessary unfolding and folding to look 
for mending, and none escapes. 



CHAPTER X. 
TABLE LINEN AND BED LINEN. 

Table Linen. 

Stains. — Fruit. 

Tea and coffee. 
Chocolate. 

Grease: cream, oil, gravy. 
Iron rust. 

Meat juice, gravy, soup. 
Vegetable. 
To remove see chapter on Stains. 
Soaking.^ — Soak table linen one-half hour in lukewarm or 
cold water without soap. Do not use hot water, as it 
will set some stains. 
Washing. — Table Hnen does not need much rubbing, because 
it is rarely very soiled, and again the looseness of the 
fabric makes it easily cleaned if the/ stains have been 
removed. It should be washed on both sides with care 
not to omit sections. The clothes-wringer should be 
loosened for all table linen, as the material is soft and 
creases easily. 
Boiling 

Rinsing >■ See pages 83 and 84. 
Bluing J 
For table linen, the blue water should not be as deep 
in color as for other fabrics, because of the softness of 
the material. 

Table linen is not starched except perhaps to make 
pbor linen look like a better quality. 

(88) 



Table Linen and Bed Linen. 



89 




Fold No. I. 






1 2 

Fold No. II. 
THE FOLDING OF TABLE LINEN. 



90 Laundering. 

Hanging. — All table linen should be well stretched and hung 
very straight. It is found better to hang a third or a 
half of the tablecloth or napkin over the line, as pinning 
from the corners causes tearing. Good hanging does 
much to hasten the ironing. 

Sprinkling. — Table linen may be taken from the line when half 
dry. The even dampness secured by this method 
especially facilitates good ironing. Dried table linen 
should be thoroughly and evenly sprinkled. In either 
case fold evenly, roll tightly and wrap in a heavy cloth. 
A heavy, hot iron on such damp linen will develop a 
gloss and the pattern will shine prettily if ironed luitil 
dry. 

Ironing. — Use heavy irons and iron dry. Fold table linen 
by folding selvages together. They may be folded with 
either three or four lengthwise folds. See chart, page 89. 
Napkins should be ironed partly dry on the wrong side, 
and then, when ironed on the right side, ironed dry. 
Fold all edges very evenly, except when folding the 
lengthwise folds in half. Here the upper half should 
be drawn back about one-half inch ; otherwise, in making 
the last fold this part will be pushed out about that 
distance, making the edges uneven. This applies equally 
to table cloths, sheets and handkerchiefs. Embroidery 
on all table linen should be ironed on the wrong side, on 
a board covered with an extra piece of padding over which 
a clean soft cloth has been laid. Doylies may have the 
fringe brushed with a strong whisk broom, rather than 
combing, which tears the fringe, and trimmed evenly 
with scissors. Tray cloths should be folded in three 
folds if it is necessary to fold them. It is better to lay 
them fiat, or roll around a paper roll. 



Table Linen and Bed Linen. 91 

Embroidered Centerpieces may be washed as colored goods, 
because of the colored embroidery silk often used, or as 
white goods. After considering this point, as to whether 
it is white or colored, see Chapter XII. The ironing 
often gives the most trouble ; no matter what the shape 
of the centerpiece, iron in straight lines, straight with 
the fiber of the goods, being sure to iron dry before begin- 
ning a new portion. Centerpieces with little or no 
embroidery, but with wide lace borders like Cluny cen- 
terpieces, should have the linen center stretched taut 
and held in shape with pins placed close together. 
Having pinned the center, stretch the lace border into 
shape, and pin carefully. Let the whole remain this way 
until perfectly dry, then no ironing will be necessary, 
except perhaps if one wishes to have the linen glazed. 
For pinning, see chapter on Laces. 

Bed Linen. 

Stains . — Vaseline . 
Medicine. 
Iron rust. 
Blood. 
Ink. 
See chapter on Stains. 

Soaking. — Soak half an hour with soap in lukewarm water, 
after stains have been removed. 

Washing. — Bed linen should be washed on both sides, with 
care to wash regularly from one side to the other. Pil- 
low cases should be turned wrong side out in the wash- 
ing, and then left in that condition until folded for 



92 Laundering. 

sprinkling. In washing bed linen the hems require the 
most care. They should be well soaped and rubbed. 

Boiling ^ 

Rinsing \- See pages 83 and 84. 

Bluing J 

Hanging. — Sheets may be hung as a table cloth. Pillow cases 
are hung by the seam opposite the hems. If opened to 
the wind, they are liable to be torn, as there is no opening 
opposite. 

Folding. — Sheets are folded in fourths lengthwise, having 
selvages together, and then in fourths crosswise. Some 
prefer to fold the hems together. Pillow cases are turned 
right side out. 

Ironing. — Care should be exercised in ironing hems. The 
sheets may be folded with the ordinary fold, or may be 
folded the same as table cloths. (See chart under table 
linen, page 89.) Pillow cases should be ironed very 
smooth, especially the hems. If there is embroidery on 
the cases it should be ironed first, and on the wrong 
side. Always iron the case itself by beginning in the 
corner where the side and end seams meet ; iron from the 
side seam across the case. The cases should be folded in 
thirds — that is, with only two creases — and the middle 
third fold is folded out unless the mark requires a differ- 
ent finish. 



CHAPTER XI. 
BODY LINEN. 

Body Linen — White. 

Drawers. Handkerchiefs. Aprons. 

Night dresses. Corset covers. Skirts. 

Waists, Dresses. Shirts. Knitted underwear. 

Stains. — Grease. 
Blood. 
Iron rust. 
Medicine. 
Ink. 

Perspiration. 
See chapter on Stains. 

Soaking. — After removing stains, soak one-half hour in luke- 
warm water with soap. 

Washing. — Wash in clean warm water and soap. Wash on 
the right side and turn and wash all garments on the 
wrong side. To do this, drawers, night dresses, chemises 
and sleeves of waists are turned inside out and washed. 
Soap the bottom hems, seams, bands, and neck well, as 
they are thicker and get most wear. It is the inside of 
body clothes that is most soiled. In putting through 
the wringer, turn the buttons inside, and keep them fiat 
so as not to force them off, or tear holes where sewed. 

Boiling. — Soap bands, seams and hems well before boiling. 

Rinsing. — Use hot water and then cold. 

(93) 



94 



Laundering, 




A 








^1 



THE FOLDING OF CORSET COVERS. 



Body Linen, 



95 






THE FOLDING OF CHEMISES. 



96 Laundering. 

Bluing. — See page 84. Garments that are lace-trimmed will 
require less bluing, because the openness of the lace makes 
it most susceptible to blue. 

Starching. — A little starch in the trimming and tucks will 
make the ironing easier and more finished and will help 
to keep the garment clean longer. It need in no way be 
stiff or starchy. 

For the trimming, the starch should be thinner than 
for the body of the garments. 

^2 tbs. of wheat starch. 1 qt. water. 

For body of garments use : 

iy2 tbs. wheat starch. 1 qt. water. 

For aprons: 

2}^ tbs. of wheat starch, 1 qt. water. 

Less of com starch for each recipe. See table, page 66. 
Have starch strained and use very hot. 
Have garment wrong side out. 
Starch: Cuffs and yoke of nightdress. 
Hems and tucks of drawers. 
All of corset cover with thin starch. 
Ruffle of skirt, or sometimes the lower half. 
All of apron. 

All of dress or waist with thin starch. 
Wring as dry as possible and rub in with the fingers. 
A well starched garment should show no surplus starch, 
as whatever is not wrung out should be rubbed in. 

Hanging. — Hang wrong side out and with the wind: 
Nightdress, by one side of lower hem. 
Skirt, by one side of lower hem. 
Drawers, by the band. 



Body Linen. 97 

Corset covers, by one of fronts, or thrown over the 

line and pinned by middle seam of back. 
Apron, by the band. 
Dress, by hem or wherever least strain. 
Waist, and shirt, by bottom hem. 

Sprinkling. — Sprinkle the body of the underclothes well, 
but not too heavily. Rub the lace and trimming 
between the fingers, which have been dipped in water. 
Both hems and trimming should be well sprinkled; 
the hems, because they are thick and the trimming, 
because it is thin and likely to dry quickly. 

Folding. — Lay trimming all inside and fold in the hems 
before folding the garment. Roll smoothly and tightly. 

Ironing. — Iron embroidery on a flannel cloth and on wrong 
side. Iron all garments quickly, ironing as large a 
space at one time as is possible. Iron buttons on the 
wrong side. If clothes are too dry, use a piece of 
cheese-cloth wet in clear water for dampening. 

In ironing nightdress, iron the embroidery and tucks 
on the sleeve, then the sleeves. Then iron the yoke, 
the body of the nightdress, running the iron well into 
the gathers, and then fold. 

In ironing drawers, iron the trimming, tucks, the 
band and then the body. Ironing the body of night- 
dress and drawers may be done more quickly by iron- 
ing double as a pillow case is ironed. 

Corset covers should be ironed with smaller iron, 
and between the seams. 

In ironing skirts, the ruflie is ironed first, and then 
may be laid back without wrinkling while the hem 
of the skirt is ironed. Iron the band, then the body. 
Do not fold the skirt at once, but hang to dry, as the 
folds are usually damp. 



98 



Laundering. 




I 



\ 



THE FOLDING OF NIGHT DRESSES. 



Body Linen. 



99 




/. 






J. ^ 

THE FOLDING OF DRAWERS. 



100 



Laundering. 




THE FOLDING OF SHIRTS. 



I 



Body Linen. 101 

Aprons will hang better if ironed from hem up to 
gathers rather than finishing whole hem across first 
and then doing next section and then gathers. Bibs 
and strings shoiild be ironed before the skirt of the 
apron and will look better if ironed on both sides, by 
ironing half dry on wrong side and finish by ironing 
on right side. 

Waists should have sleeves ironed first, as they will 
hang out of the way while the rest is being done. Next 
iron under-arm piece on each side, then fronts and then 
backs. The fronts will set better if ironed frora shoulder 
down. Round or across the yoke ironing will make 
bulging yokes. Ironing up will cause pleats at the 
shoulder. 

Handkerchiefs are ironed the same as napkins. 

Towels, with the exception of those with non-fast 
colored borders, are washed and boiled as body linen. 
They are ironed on both sides and folded in three length- 
wise folds. Finish with middle third out unless marking 
requires otherwise. The marking should be out. 

Shirts are well prepared for ironing by good starch- 
ing as told on page 64. The iron should be hot and 
smooth; the shirt bosom thoroughly damp, not wet. 
Iron the neck band first, then down from the neck to 
the lower end of the bosom. This rule holds for plain 
and plaited bosoms alike. Iron until dry and perfectly 
smooth. The glaze from the hot iron and starch may 
be wiped off with a damp cheese cloth; a bone paper- 
cutter or any dull flat surface will open the plaits. 

Collars and cuffs are ironed like shirt bosoms and 
are best done by ironing half dry on the wrong side, 
and then entirely dry on the right. The glaze or polish 
can be removed from these in the same way as from 



102 Laundering. 

a shirt front. To shape collars and cuffs when ironed, 
press firmly with the heel of the iron and roll the collar 
or cuff over quickly. Hold a minute and the collars 
and cuffs will be rolled. To turn turnover cuffs — col- 
lars — ^when finished run a moist cloth which is held 
over the end of the finger along the bending line. While 
still damp, turn the collar or cuffs or points over, and 
press on the wrong side with the iron. 

Knitted Underwear may be washed as white goods if it 
is cotton, or as woolen goods if it is woolen. Again, 
if it is silk, see chapter on Silks. Knitted goods should 
be pressed with a warm iron to soften and shape it. 

Stockings should be washed in clean water and not in water 
which is full of lint from other clothing. Wash on the 
right side, giving special attention to the foot; turn 
and wash on the wrong side. Stockings require thor- 
ough rinsing and should be hung by the feet to dry. 
Brown stockings should be washed by themselves, as 
they usually "bleed" considerably. Silk or woolen 
stockings should be washed as any silk or woolen gar- 
ment. Stockings may be pressed with a warm iron 
on the wrong side. 

Note. — Do not use alkaline substances, as Soapine, 
Pearline, washing soda, for diapers, as they remain 
in the fabric after drying, and irritate. Cloths of 
this nature should be put to soak in cold water as soon 
as soiled. Ammonia may be used, as it is volatile and 
so will leave the fabric. A mild soap and warm water 
may be used in place of the washing powders. 



CHAPTER XII. 

COLORED CLOTHES. 

The dyer has almost succeeded in finding fast dyes. The 
fastness depends not so much on his dye recipe as upon 
the fact that some dyes combine with the materials like 
wool and silk, and are known as substantive dyes, while 
others adhere to the fabric, as in the case of cotton and 
linen, and are naturally freer to leave the fabric. Softness 
and absorbing power of fabric plays an important part then 
in the dye. Again cloth dyed in the thread is likely to be 
more lasting in color than when dyed in the piece or the 
color stamped on. These two facts show us we have an 
uncertain problem and that we must still realize that colors 
are to be washed with care. 

The wisest plan is to establish the rule that will best 
suit all conditions, and then run no risk by attempting 
what may seem a quicker method. 
Set the color. 
Use warm water, not hot. 
Use soap free from alkali and in solution. 
Wash quickly. 
Hang away from sunlight. 
Dry quickly. 
These rules, if followed, will bring the best results. 

To Set the Color. — Salt is a good mordant (as a substance 
used to set colors is called) and of course easily used. 
No definite proportions can be given, except in most 
cases two cups of salt to one gallon of cold water will be 

(103) 



104 Laundering. 

enough. More may be used until the bleeding of the 
color stops. Salt is most effective for browns, blacks 
and pinks. Vinegar should be used for blues — use one- 
half cup to one gallon of water. Sugar oj lead {poison) 
for lavenders — use one tablespoon to one gallon of 
water. 

Stains. — The stains on colored clothes are hard to remove 
because the chemical used will probably take the color 
too. Often a white spot is less noticeable than the 
stain — this must be decided by the owner. Stains on 
white goods with stripes or figures can be more easily 
removed by applying the chemical with a dropper 
between the stripes or pattern and quickly washing. 
To prevent the chemical from spreading into the stripes, 
it will be found possible to protect them by applying 
a little soap to the stripe. This acts as a bar over 
which the chemical can not step. Quick rinsing is the 
best precaution. 

Washing. — After the color has been set, wash the garment 
as quickly as possible in warm water to which has been 
added enough dissolved white soap to make good suds. 
This soap should be free from alkali, and because of 
the soda in most washing powders, they had better not 
be used for colors. If the color seems especially sensi- 
tive, avoid all soaking and as much rubbing as possible. 
Rinse quickly in two or three clear waters. Putting 
salt in the last water may brighten the color. Pinks, 
lavenders, greens and yellows should not be blued. 
Do not boil colored clothes, or at any time use water 
hotter than the hand can stand. Better work will be 
accomplished by washing one garment at a time and 
not combining different colors. For example, if reds 



Soap Substitutes for Colored Clothes. 105 

and blues are washed together, the blue may take on 
a purple tint. 

Starching. — The starch for colored clothes cannot be a 
hot as for white clothes. The garment should be 
wrong side out, the starching should be done as for 
white clothes, keeping like colors together. For the 
best starching of colored clothes it is wise to divide the 
starch, so that blue garments will not need to be 
starched in pink starch, or vice versa. 

Hanging. — Colored clothes should be hung in the shade to 
dry. A quick drying will prevent colors in striped and 
figured goods from running and spoiling the back- 
ground. If one has time, or is doing a very special 
piece of work, it will be found an advantage to take the 
garment from the hne when half dry and iron at once. 

Ironing. — Colored clothes should be ironed on the wrong side 
or on the right side with the use of a piece of cheese- 
cloth. This cheese-cloth will prevent the shine which 
is often seen on seams and tucks where the goods is 
thickei". Do not use too hot an iron, because it will 
help to fade the color. 

SOAP SUBSTITUTES FOR COLORED CLOTHES. 

Where the color seems uncertain, soap may be eliminated 
from the cleaning and with it will be eliminated all risk of 
alkali affecting the color. • 

Bran water (4 cups of bran to 1 gallon of water) . 
Soap bark (4 cups to 1 gallon of water) . 
Starch water (3 tablespoons of starch to 1 quart of 
water) . 



106 Laundering. 

Cook each one twenty minutes, strain and use strained 
water. These may be used in the wash water in place of 
the soap solution. Two waters should be used, the one a 
wash water and the second a rinse water; there will be 
found to be enough starch in the second water to give the 
clothes a slight stiffness. In this case there should be no 
rinsing with clear water and the starch will be sufficient if 
ironed without drying. 

Gum arabic may be used as a starch substitute for stiffen- 
ing. It will give the dressing to the fiber without giving 
it the gloss that starch will give it. 



CHAPTER XIIL 

WOOLENS. 

Wool must be considered a delicate fiber because it is an 
animal fiber, and like all animal tissue is sensitive to 
heat, friction and alkalis. The fiber is microscopic 
in size and covered with scales which overlap. Any 
change of temperature causes the scales to fold on to 
themselves and so shorten. Friction knots them by 
twisting and turning them. Strong alkaU dissolves the 
wool, making it at first tender, then finally causing it 
to disappear. 

These three facts give us our general rules or prin- 
ciples to be followed in washing all woolens, whether 
white or colored: 

I. All waters should be of same temperature — 

about 110° F. 
II. All rubbing or twisting should be eliminated. 

III. Only mild soaps (containing no excess alkali) 

should be used. 

IV. Soaps should be in solution— to prevent rubbing. 
V. Borax and ammonia may be used to soften 

water, as they are too mild to injure wools. 

To Remove Stains from wool, one is a bit hindered if a 
bleach seems necessary. Dilute acids do not injure the 
fiber, so lemon juice, dilute oxalic or dilute hydrochloric 
acids may be used for ink and iron rust; but mildew, 
grass or some stubborn stains which might be easily 
bleached out with Javelle must be treated with care. 
Applying dilute acid to the spot first, then Javelle, 
allows the bleach to work without having opportunity 

(107) 



108 Laundering. 

to discolor wool if done rapidly and enough acid is used. 
Potassium permanganate or sulphur fumes are the best 
bleaches for stains on wool. 

Any chemical would destroy color in wool as it will 
in cotton and linen or silks. 

Washing. — Woolens should be brushed or shaken to free 
from loose dirt. Have water of tepid temperature, and 
the soap dissolved by itself. Add enough soap solu- 
tion to make good suds. Wash the garment by a 
squeezing raotion (sometimes called sousing) and as 
fast as the water becomes soiled change to another 
which is soapy and of the same temperature as the 
first. To remove persistent spots of soil, rub some soap 
solution directly on the spot with the palm of the hand. 
Do this work thoroughly, as quickly as possible, and 
without any lifting or pulling which will stretch the 
garment — a precaution necessary with the knitted type 
especially. .A little borax — one-half cup to the tub of 
water — in the last rinse will clear up the white wools. 
The wringer is best for wools, as it presses out the water. 
In its absence they should be squeezed dry. Do not 
wring by twisting. 

Drying. — To consider drying divide the wools into two 
sections — knitted and woven. Knitted garments 
should be laid on a pad to dry. The shape and size 
can be best checked up by measuring the shawl or 
sweater or petticoat before wetting. These measures 
should be written down and the garment shaped to 
these measures. The pad should be made of several 
thicknesses of bath towels, a folded sheet, or any soft, 
absorbing material. 

Woven garments should be stretched and shaped. 



Woolens. 109 

A blanket may be put in curtain stretchers or one-half 
over the line so that the edges may be pulled straight. 
This is better than hanging single, as the weight of 
water in larger portion is so great it sags the corners. 

Brushing the blanket while drying will fluff it and to a 
degree card the wool. Use a stiff whisk broom to brush, 
and brush both sides and one way. Dry in moderate 
temperature — not in the sun — and do not allow it to 
freeze. Sun bums the white wool. Freezing causes 
shrinkage. 

Skirts and trousers should be himg by the band and 
pulled equally so that the entire bottom line is even. 
Cleaning Without Washing. — Magnesium, fuller's earth, 
starch. These reagents are only considered where one 
fears shrinkage from the use of water, or where the 
"newness" is to be retained. They may be used for 
the whole garment or for "spotting." Gasoline, alcohol, 
ether and chloroform may be added to the list for 
"spotting." The former absorb and the latter dis- 
solve. 

To remove grease spots — by absorbents — cover spot 
on both sides with white blotting paper or soft cloth, 
or absorbing powders ; press with a warm iron. This iron 
should be only warm enough to liquefy the grease and 
not hot enough to darken the stain. As fast as the 
covering material soils, change to a new part. 

Solvents, such as alcohol, gasoline, ether, chloroform, 
will remove the grease by dissolving it. In this method, 
too, the pad of absorbing material should be used. 
This pad will do much to prevent grease rings. Rub the 
spot to hasten the dissolving and absorbing of grease 
and to prevent the grease from settling. Do not use 
near a fire or flame. 



110 Laundering, 

Bleaching of woolens must be done with great care, and 
with the home facilities results are more or less uncer- 
tain. A sulphur candle, clean barrel, a pan of water, 
will make a bleaching outfit if one has good outdoor 
facilities. The garment should be clean, and damp. 
Stand the stdphur candle on an old plate in a pan of 
water in a barrel, light and let bum. Spread the gar- 
ment out on several strands of heavy white twine and 
suspend hammock fashion a few inches below the top 
of the barrel. Tack these strands securely to the bar- 
rel. Cover with heavy, clean paper, then with a heavy 
covering of old carpet or blanket. The fumes of sul- 
phur will pass up through the wet wool. At the 
end of an hour note change. The time depends on 
degree of discoloration to be removed. Working in 
the open, one need not inhale any stilphur fumes. See 
page 37. 

Soap Solutions for Woolen Cleaning : 

Blanket Wash. 

1 large bar Ivory soap. 2 tbs. borax. 

3 qts. cold water. | cup wood alcohol. 

Shave the soap into the cold water and heat at low 
temperature until dissolved. When cold, add borax 
and alcohol. 

Detergent. 

Ij oz. white castile soap. 1 oz. ether. 
1 oz. grain alcohol. 4 oz. ammonia. 

Cut soap fine and heat in 1 pint of soft water until 
dissolved. Then add three quarts of cold water and 
the other ingredients. Keep corked tight in bottles. 



Woolens. Ill 

Soap and Water. 
1 cake soap. 2 qts. water. 

Shave soap and dissolve in water. 
Borax may be added to the wash water or to the 
plain soap solution if woolens are very soiled. 

To Iron. — Ironing of woolens is more like pressing. As 
the fiber scorches so easily and the heavy seams glaze 
under the pressure of the iron, it is advisable always 
to use cheese-cloth between the cloth and the iron. 
Pulling the cheese-cloth off makes the nap fluffy. A 
garment half dry will give better results. Otherwise, 
cheese-cloth should be dampened each time. 

Colored Woolens. — Observe all points stated for white 
woolens, and note one additional problem — the fading 
or bleeding of colors. This may be overcome by set- 
ting the colors first with salt — one to two cups to 
amount needed to cover — and second by the use of 
soap bark instead of soap. Recipe for soap bark: 

Soap Bark. 
1 cup soap bark. 1 qt. water. 

Cook together twenty minutes. Strain and use in 
wash water like a soap solution. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

SILK. 

Silk again represents an animal fiber. All rules for 
woolens are applicable to silks: 

I. Heat yellows silk. 
II. Strong soaps and alkalis destroy gloss and turn 
silk yellow. 

III. Friction breaks fibers and so weakens the fabric. 

IV. Squeezing should take the place of rubbing and 

wringing. 
V. Too hot an iron yellows, stiffens and cracks silk. 
Cheese-cloth should be used for pressing, as it 
is the safest method. 

Colored silks may be best washed with soap bark in 
the place of soap. 

A new appearance and still not stiffness may be given 
by the use of gum arabic in the last water before pressing. 
This often prevents a thin silk from looking washed. 

Ribbons. — Wet ribbons and stretch on a clean, table, then 
scrub with a small soft brush and neutral soap until 
clean. Rinse in clear water, keeping ribbon smooth 
and straight. Remove some of the water by running 
the hand down the ribbon and pressing out the water. 
Stretch on the table again and allow the ribbon to 
dry. Ironing will not be needed in this method if the 
ribbon is allowed to lie flat until dry. Wash ribbons 
may be ironed with a cool iron when nearly dry. 
Chiffon, silk crepe, silk and cotton, silk and linen 

(112) 



Silk. 113 

shoiild be treated as silk. Silk-embroidered linen 
should be washed as silk, quickly and without rubbing, 
dried quickly, and when half -dried laid on a thick pad 
wrong side up and ironed until dry. Pressing the linen 
on the right side will give a gloss to the linen. This 
can be done and still not touch the right side of 
embroidery. 

Velvet may be cleaned by sprinkling thoroughly with mag- 
nesia or cornmeal, covering and letting stand twenty- 
four hours. Brush off with a soft brush. A second 
application will produce better results. All velvets 
may be freshened or folds taken out by steaming. 

To Steam Velvets, stand a hot iron on end and cover the 
bottom of it with a wet cloth. Over this pass the 
velvet, holding the wrong side next to the damp cloth. 
The steam from a tea kettle may be used. This is 
especially easy with a spreading device put into the 
spout of the kettle. 

Velveteen may be washed by plunging up and down in 
warm soapy water — rinsing in the same in several 
clear waters and hanging dripping to dry. 
. While drying, brushing will smooth the nap. Do 
not put through a wringer or do not wring with the 
hands, as it will crease it. Velveteen and corduroy 
will both respond well to this method. 

Velvet Collars. — Make strong white soap lather. To a 
pint of such suds add one-half teaspoon of kerosene. 
Spread thoroughly and evenly over the soiled velvet 
collar, and then rub lightly with a soft brush or cloth. 
Wipe the suds off. There need not be enough moisture 
to wet the collar. After wiping with several freshly 
rinsed cloths, being sure all soap is removed, steam on 
a hot iron. See steaming velvets above. 



114 Laundering. 

White Corduroy may be done like velveteen. 

Chamois and doeskin gloves may be easily done 
on the hands by brushing in lukewarm suds with a 
soft brush. Putting them on the hands makes it pos- 
sible to see all streaks and to give special attention to 
the ends of the fingers. Rinse in clear water, then pull 
fingers into shape and blow the glove up to prevent 
it drying too small. Do not dry in intense heat. Rub 
the glove when half dry and in that way overcome its 
stiffening. Gloves that have been badly washed and 
grown hard and stiff and perhaps too small for the 
hands, should be wet, put on the hand and rinsed in 
warm water to which half a teaspoon of olive oil has 
been added. This oil will soften the kid. 



CHAPTER XV. 
LACES AND SPECIAL CLEANSING. 

Laces, because of their very delicate structure, should be 
washed with the least possible rubbing and pulling. 
Those that are especially frail may be basted to a piece 
of cheese-cloth. Soaking, squeezing or shaking in the 
water are the safest methods to use. 

Stains. — Stains on laces may be removed as from any other 
fabric. Thought must be given as to whether it is a 
silk lace, wool lace or a cotton one. To remove stains 
from silk and wool laces, see Chapters XIII and XIV. 
To remove stains from cotton and linen laces will be 
found as easy as to remove from linen and cotton 
cloth. See chapter on Stains. 

Washing. — Dissolve a white soap in water, and add suf- 
ficient soap solution to the wash water to make good 
strong suds. Soaking the laces in this water may clean 
them without any handling. For very delicate laces 
a second soak in clean soapy water may clean them. 
Rinse thoroughly in several waters. If white laces 
(cotton and linen), they may be blued in very pale 
blue water. If cream or ecru, and they need re tin ting, 
a clear solution of tea may be added to the last rinse 
water, the quantity of tea used depending upon the 
degree of yellow or ecru desired. The tea liquor may 
be prepared by boiling one tablespoon of black tea in 
one quart of water, and using the required amount 
of the clear tea. Lace has great absorbing power, and 
care should be used not to make the tint too dark. 

(115) 



116 Laundering. 

Bleaching. — Discoloration may be removed from lace by: 
Sunlight. 

Rinsing in borax and water. 
Bleaching with Javelle water. 
Using potassium permanganate and oxalic acid. 
The lace should be washed as clean as possible before 
bleaching. 

Sunlight. — Spread the lace and thoroughly wet on a cloth or 
towel in the sun. Time is required for this process, and 
the lace should be kept wet. 

Rinsing in Borax and Water may whiten the lace, because 
borax is a mild bleach. This and the sunlight method 
might be combined. 

Javelle Water. — One-quarter of a cup of Javelle water in one 
quait of hot water. Drop the lace into this Javelle, 
then lift instantly from the bowl and rinse in a second 
bowl of hot water. This bleaching and rinsing should 
be done as fast as one motion can follow another. Two 
or three such applications bring good results without 
harm to cotton and linen laces. Then wash thoroughly 
in soap and water. It should not be used for wool and 
silk laces. 

Potassium Permanganate.— Apply the permanganate solu- 
tion (see page 42) to the discolored lace, rinse with 
warm water, then apply dilute oxalic acid, which will 
take away all the brown stain which the permanganate 
has produced. Lace which has been bleached by this 
method or the Javelle should be washed thoroughly in 
soap and water, so as to be sure no chemical remains. 

To Pin. — Lace is not starched, and is best unironed. It 
should be pulled and pinned into shape. This will open 
the mesh of the lace, and the drying under tension will 
give sufficient stiffness. If this stiffness is objection- 
able, the lace may be stroked with the flat side of the 
thumb and finger, and this will soften it. 



Laces and Special Cleansing. 



117 




The First Pinning is Very Simple 





The Second Pinning Should Shape the Scallops and Points, and Sufficient 
Pins Should be Used to Hold Them Wei! in„Shape and to Eliminate All 
Scalloping or Unevenness of the Plain Edges 




The Third and Finest Pinning fgr Perfect Results Should be Done by Plac- 
ing a Pin in All Small Loops or Picots. These Pins Should Not be Removed 
Until the Lace is Dry. Should There be Any Raised Flowers or Leaves, 
Like the Roses in Irish Lace, the Petals Should be Lifted With a Pia 
Until Each One is Opened and Stands Out 



LACE PINNING. 



118 Laundering. 

Much care must be given to the pinning. The first 
pins should be put in with the idea of producing the 
straight lines as in lace by the yard, or the curves, 
squares or circles as in collars, lace scarfs, centerpieces 
and table-covers. One should remember that the pins 
are put in to resist the natural shrinkage which takes 
place in drying. These pins should also regulate the 
width, stretching each point or curve to the width 
required and making each one exactly the shape of 
its neighbor. 

Or, if the worker prefers, the lace may be basted 
closely on shrunken cheese-cloth, giving special care to 
the shaping of points and scallops. The lace is then 
washed on the cheese-cloth, and the cheese-cloth pulled 
and pinned taut for the drying. 

Lace Yokes and Sleeves may be cleaned without removing 
from the dress, if care is exercised to keep the water 
or gasoline, if used, from running down into the mate- 
rial of the waist. Powdered magnesia, chalk or Fuller's 
earth may be spread on the yoke with less chance of 
harming the material. If it is to be cleaned by water 
or gasoline, cover the waist carefully by wrapping in 
a heavy towel; then with a soft brush, brush the lace 
with heavy suds, or with gasoline, brushing down 
from the waist, as this will prevent the moisture from 
running back into the material. It may be found 
advisable when using water or gasoline, to lay the lace 
on a heavily folded towel, as this will quickly absorb 
the moisture and prevent spreading. If cleaned with 
magnesia or any of the powdered cleansing agents, the 
lace may be laid on a towel and covered with the 
powder. In this way let it stand for twenty-four hours. 
At the end of this time, brush off the powder, and, if 



Laces and Special Cleansing. 119 

not too soiled before cleansing, the lace will be a good 
color. 

Gold and Silver Lace may be cleansed by brushing with 
alcohol or gasoline. If this lace is in the dress, carry 
out the same precautions as given above. This metal 
lace may also be cleaned by boiling in salt and water, 
using two tablespoons of salt to each pint of water. 

Drawn Work. — Care must be used in doing drawn work, 
because, while it seems sturdier than lace, the threads 
of the fabric which compose the pattern are often most 
delicate. Wash as any lace without much rubbing, 
blue, dry and sprinkle; or it may be ironed without 
previously sprinkling, as is suggested for napkins and 
table cloths. Tastes differ as to whether it should be 
starched. To iron, if possible use a large ironing sur- 
face like the table, and iron from the center out to the 
edge in straight lines. This will prevent the usual 
puckering and ruffling of the hems. The ironing should 
be done on the wrong side with a dull-pointed iron, 
as a sharp point is often responsible for the tearing. 

Elastic Goods. — Elastic goods should be washed in cool 
water, as intense heat causes the rubber to deteriorate. 
A soft brush will be of great help, as it will sink down 
into the fiber of the goods, thus cleaning more rapidly. 
Rinse thoroughly, and hang to dry, as would be done 
with any white goods. 

Dress Shields. — The life of a dress shield is increased by 
cleanliness. They may be easily washed with cool or 
tepid water, a white soap, and if much discolored, a 
soft brush may help to clean them. Do not iron. 

Corsets.— A corset that has been worn too long is hard 
to whiten and clean. Prepare a good, strong lather, 



120 Laundering. 

add a little ammonia and borax, and with a small 
scrubbing brush scrub the corset thoroughly. Rinse 
in several waters, and hang in the sun to bleach. The 
laces of the corset will be like new if taken out of the 
corset to be washed. The corset should be starched 
and ironed; either iron the laces or wrap ribbon fashion 
round a bottle to dry. 

Feathers from Hats. — Feathers are often washed and curled 
in the home. If so, make good suds of white soap 
and water and draw the feather through the hands 
in this water. Let the stroke be regular and always 
by ptdling the feather from stem to tip. Dry the feather 
by shaking frequently and then it is ready for curling. 
Moisten with steam before curling — in fact, steaming 
a feather and then shaking it over the top of a stove 
is often enough to give curl to it. For a tighter curl 
draw three or four flumes at a time over a dull knife 
after first steaming the feather. If the feather is too 
dry the knife will break it. 

Pillows. — Pillows may be washed, without removing from 
the case, in a tub or washing machine. Wash by sous- 
ing up and down in the water, and then after rinsing, 
hang to dry in the sun and wind. Choose a windy day 
for this work if possible, as it dries and livens the feath- 
ers well. It will be easier to clean the tick if the feathers 
are removed, as the tick often needs rubbing which will 
break the feathers. For this transfer the feathers to 
a cheese-cloth bag, and wash feathers in the bag and 
the ticking separately. 

Down Quilts. — Prepare a suds of warm water and white 
soap. Souse or knead the quilt in the suds. Use a 
second suds, two for rinsing, and then hang to dry by 



Laces and Special Cleansing. 121 

spreading out between two lines, and as often as pos- 
sible while drying shake from all four sides to liven 
the down and to help to respread it. It will be found 
any wringing must be done by squeezing, and the 
pressing of the silk or sateen cover may be done with 
a warm iron. A little time after the down is dry will 
be required to spread it about with the fingers. The 
quilts may be most satisfactorily cleaned and will only 
lack a little of the puffiness which has come from the 
down being blown into the various section patterns 
as the quilt was being made. 

Rain Coats may be cleaned with a brush and suds of white 
soap and warm water. Brush the whole coat evenly 
and thoroughly. Hang on a hanger and rinse by pour- 
ing water on the coat, and let hang to dry. Let drip 
dry. 

Veils may be washed in warm water and soap, and if black 
should be rinsed finally in a strong solution of black 
tea to which gum arable has been added. Use about 
two teaspoons of powdered gum arable to one pint of 
water; while still wet, spread the veil in shape to dry, 
being careful to have the edges straight. White woolen 
or silk veils need no gum arable. Chiffon veils may 
be washed in soap and water and pressed while half 
dry. Strong tea water should be used for mourning 
crepe. 

Voile. — Colored voiles should have the colors set Hke any 
colored goods, and fortunately the salt and water used 
for the setting is harmless to the wool, silk and even 
cotton voile. Wash the voiles in lukewarm soapsuds, 
which have been made of a white soap after the color 
has been set. There should be several rinse waters of 



122 Laundering. 

the same temperature as the wash water. The last 
rinse water for blacks and browns can be strongly 
colored with a solution made from black tea. Blue 
voiles may be rinsed in a strong blue water, and pure 
white voiles may have a very light blue rinse with just 
enough blue to whiten and in no way tint the cloth. 
If the garment has been ripped up to be washed, then 
care should be used to hang the various lengths per- 
fectly straight, and if hung without wringing, there 
will be little need of pressing, although pressing with 
a warm iron will do no harm. Press on the side that 
is to be the wrong side with a cloth between the voile 
and the iron. A voile skirt, if washed without ripping, 
should be hung by the band, pinning the band several 
places on the line, so as to leave no chance for sagging. 

Chiffon and Chiffon Cloth should be washed in lukewarm 
water with a light suds. Wash as any silk, rinse, blue 
slightly if it is to be a pure white. If colored chiffon 
or chiffon cloth, consider them as colored silks. (See 
Chapter on Colored Clothes.) With either material 
iron with- a warm iron on the wrong side and when 
the fabric is nearly dry. 

Neckties. — Before wetting the necktie, loosen the inner 
lining. Lay the tie flat and treat as for ribbon. Press 
when almost dry. If too damp when pressed, it will 
make the tie stiff and shiny. If one is careful to keep 
the tie perfectly flat during the cleansing, there will 
be little need for any ironing. 

To Remove Polish from Collars. — The polish which is likely 
to come from the ironing of a starched collar or cuff 
can easily be removed by wiping the collar lightly and 
quickly with a cheese-cloth wrung very dry out of 
clear water. 



Laces and Special Cleansing. 123 

Gloss Removed from Clothing. — Serges and broadcloths are 
likely to wear shiny. This gloss may be removed tem- 
porarily, the length of time it staying away depending 
in a great degree upon the amount of wear given the 
fabric. To remove, dampen a cheese-cloth in water to 
which a few drops of ammonia have been added (about 
one-half teaspoon of ammonia to a quart of water), 
and with this cloth, sponge the garment by rubbing 
in even, straight lines, being careful that each part 
is sponged. Then with a dampened cloth spread over 
the fabric, press until dry. Use the same precaution 
in the pressing of these woolens as with any other 
wool ; that is, do not have the iron too hot, and do not 
iron without a cloth. 

Overalls. — Overalls usually present a grease problem. It 
is advisable, therefore, to apply to the grease spots 
clean kitchen grease, kerosene or some soft, clean fat. 
Then with warm, soapy water and a good scrubbing 
brush, it is possible to get them quite clean. It would 
be wise to add some grease-cutting agent to the soap 
solution, such as borax, ammonia or dissolved washing 
soda. If after the overalls are washed and rinsed, 
they are hung quite wet on the line, they will be found 
to dry so smooth that ironing is unnecessary. 



CHAPTER XVL 
FUMIGATION AND DISINFECTION OF CLOTHING. 

Clothes which are thoroughly washed and boiled, as is the 
usual method in all laundries, are sterile to the point of safety. 
Clothing that cannot be washed and must be sterilized maybe 
fumigated or disinfected. In the home, simple methods must 
be resorted to. Fortunately the clothing used in the sick 
room is usually white and of a material that is washable. 

All articles, whether bed or body clothing, that come in 
contact with the person suffering from contagious diseases, 
need special care. Most contagious diseases have no spores, 
so the extreme treatment required to kill spores is not needed. 
A simple way of caring for soiled linen from the sick room is to 
put the clothes immediately into a boiler which is half full 
of cold water, add soap, heat, and boil thirty minutes after 
the boiling point has been reached. This treatment will kill 
disease carriers with the exception of their spores (spores are 
like seeds or eggs which are not destroyed until they have 
matured). After boiling the clothes, they should hang to 
dry in the open, as sunshine and air are both good disinfec- 
tants. 

Various methods are given, that one may choose what 
seems easier to them. In fumigating, a room or closet 
should be sealed, so that the fumes may be more concentrated 
and hence produce greater results. Keep a room sealed for 
at least eight hours after fumigation. 

Formalin Candles may be burned, care being taken to avoid 
any danger from fire. 

(124) 



Fumigation and Disinfection of Clothing. 125 

The Spraying Method may be used. A sheet, two by two 
and a half yards, sprinkled with eight ounces of formalin, 
is hung on a line in the center of the room. In drying, 
the formaldehyde gas which is given off does the work 
of disinfecting. One sheet of this size is used for every 
thousand cubic feet. The room should be kept sealed 
for at least eight hours. 

A third method is the so-called permanganate-formalin 
method. For each thousand cubic feet of air space, use 
nine ounces of potassium permanganate and one pint 
of formalin. 

The permanganate is placed in a receptacle and the 
formalin is quietly poured on it. As considerable action 
takes place when the two substances come in contact, 
the vessel in which they are put should be deep and a 
protector should be put under it in order to prevent 
carrying off the heat generated. 

The gas given off when formalin breaks up — formalde- 
hyde — is more effective in the presence of moisture. 
Into the air-tight box, closet or room which is being 
disinfected, moisture may be introduced by hanging up 
a wet towel or sheet, depending upon the size of the 
space treated. If steam can be introduced into the 
space it will be the best form in which to bring in 
moisture. This may be done by setting pails or a tub 
of boiling water in the room. 

Disinfection is usually brought about by immersing the gar- 
ment in a liquid. This is especially suitable for those 
garments that can not be washed and boiled. Carbolic 
acid, formalin, lysol, creolin and bichloride of mercury 
are the usual disinfectants. They must all be used with 
great care, the first two being especially hard on the 



126 Laundering. 

hands, if used much, and the last one producing dis- 
coloration in the clothes. 

Clothes may be disinfected by putting into a carbolic 
acid solution and leaving them from twenty minutes to 
one hour. The right strength of solution is about five 
per cent. This can be made up by using 

1 part carbolic acid to 
19 parts boiling water. 

One drawback in using this solution is that it is very hard 
on the hands; therefore, before removing the clothes, 
add a large quantity of water in order that the solution 
may be made very dilute. 

Lysol and Creolin are manufactured coal tar products that 
may be used in place of carbolic acid. They are used in 
one per cent and two per cent solutions ; being dissolved 
in tepid water, they will do equally good work. Solu- 
tions made from either will not harm the skin. These 
products are more expensive than carbolic acid. 

Formalin is a very valuable disinfectant. It is claimed that 
this disinfectant will destroy spores. Clothes should be 
immersed in a four or five per cent solution and allowed 
to stay thirty minutes at least. (For spore destroying 
it is claimed that twenty-four hours are necessary.) 
It is also a deodorizer. Formalin is somewhat cheaper 
than carbolic acid. It is like carbolic in being irritating 
to the skin; therefore, care shoiild be taken to dilute the 
solution very much before removing the clothes. 

A solution of Bichloride of Mercury, 1 in 500, is some- 
times recommended, but it gives no better results than 
those noted, and will discolor the clothes. 



Fumigation and Disinfection of Clothing. 127 

Spores. — The one sure way of destroying spores is to keep 
the garments contaminated in superheated steam for 
one-half hour. 

For any mattress or heavy article that cannot be 
thoroughly fimiigated or disinfected, there seems to be 
little left to do but bum. The fumigation largely 
eliminates the loss by burning, because in the eight 
hours used for fumigation there is ample time for the 
fumes to thoroughly penetrate a thin fiber. 



i 



CHAPTER XVIL 

DRY CLEANING. 

Dry cleaning is so called because water is not used as a 
cleaning agent. It is really, therefore, a chemical process. 
The principle involved is to use some material which is 
a perfect solvent for grease, and as the grease is dissolved the 
dirt is naturally set free. Benzine, benzol, ether, chloroform, 
acetic ether, carbon tetrachloride and alcohol are all grease 
solvents, and to a certain extent may be used for dry cleaning. 
The benzine and the carbon tetrachloride are the most used 
because of their extreme solvent power and because of their 
volatility. 

Two points are absolutely essential in good dry cleaning. 
There should be total immersion, and the liquid used 
must be purely solvent and quickly volatile. To test a 
liquid as to its volatility, pour a little benzine in an open 
dish and after evaporation there should be no sediment. 
Benzine may be filtered through flannel or chamois 
to extract all moisture, as clothes that are moist, or 
benzine with water in it, produce poor results. 

The object of dry cleaning is that we have a rapid cleaning 
which produces no shrinkage, no change of color, no 
wrinkling or disarrangement of parts, and again the dry 
cleaning process is a process of disinfection. 

Great danger is involved in the dry cleaning process. For 
this reason the utmost care must be exercised. It is 
essential that there be no heat, either of a heated room, 
or that there be no flame, as benzine and benzol are 
highly inflammable in a liquid state, and they have such 

(129) 



130 Laundering . 

a low boiling point that they give off large fumes of vapor 
at ordinary temperatures. This vapor mixes with the 
air, and forms a dangerous and powerful explosive. 
Two conditions must exist before combustion or explo- 
sion can take place. One is that the liquid or vapor 
come in contact with oxygen, and the other is that there 
must be sufficient high temperature. If neither of these 
conditions is present there is no possibility of the gaso- 
line burning or exploding. For the housewife to use 
gasoline it should be done out of doors, in the shade, and 
for safety's sake, a cool day should be chosen. Benzine 
or gasoline is used with great risk in one's bedroom, 
bathroom, or kitchen, and only by the person ignorant 
of the danger. Carbon tetrachloride may be used with 
greater safety, because its burning point is higher, hence 
it is less inflammable. To remove spots by benzine they 
should be done according to the stain chapter, first 
removing the spot, and then it will be found better to 
immerse the whole garment. This will avoid the rings 
which often result from dry cleaning of spots. All pearl 
buttons should be taken off, as benzine destroys the 
finish of the pearl. 

The main thought in cleansing with benzine is to use 
it like water in quantity and to rinse the garment in 
benzine as is done in water. A soft brush may be used 
on very badly soiled parts of the garment. Always do 
the lightest goods first and the rinse benzine may be 
used as wash liquid for the next lot. 

Do not store quantities of gasoline in the house, and 
when the cleaning work is finished, hang garment in air, 
pour left-over benzine, if dirty, on some absorbing soil 
or gravel, and if clean, bottle it. Do not pour these 
volatile liquids in the drain pipes to run to the sewer. 



PART 11. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



EQUIPMENT. 



General Laundry. 



Equipment of 

Agate pan or basin for 
starching. 

Bosom board. 

Clothes basket. 

Clothes boiler (tin with cop- 
per bottom). 

Clothes horse. 

Clothes line. 

Clothes pins. 

Clothes pin bag. 

Clothes props. 

Clothes stick. 

Clothes wringer. 

Cup for measure. 

Duster for lines. 

Droppers. 

Flannel. 

Funnel. 

Heavy cloth for tubs and 
boiler. 

Heavy irons. 

Heavy paper. 

Iron holders. 

Iron rests. 

( 



Home Laundry. 

Ironing table and board cov- 
ered with canton flannel or 
coarse blanket and a fine 
cotton cloth. A drawer 
is convenient for holders. 

Pins. 

Polishing iron. 

Saucepan for starch. 

Scrubbing brush. 

Set tubs, three or four, or 
machine. 

Skirt board. 

Sleeve board. 

Small pieces of muslin and 
cheese-cloth. 

Small pointed irons. 

Spoon for starch. 

Strainer for starch. 

Sprinkler. 

Teaspoon. 

Tablespoon. 

Wash board. 

Water pail. 

Wax. 

133) 



134 Laundering. 

Reagents. 

Alum. Bran. 

Ammonia. French chalk or magnesia, etc. 

Borax. (See Chapter V.) 

Equipment. 

The equipment of the laundry cannot be considered with- 
out first considering the room. The situation of the 
laundry as to its relation to the rest of the house depends a 
great deal upon the general arrangement for the doing of 
housework. If an outside laundress is to come in by the 
hour or by the day, or if one has sufficient means to employ 
a laundress as she would a cook, perhaps all are agreed that 
the best place for the laundry is either in the basement or 
in the extreme rear of the house. This is naturally planned 
beforehand in the new home, so that if the decision favors 
the basement, the windows may be large and of sufficient 
number to give the good light and good ventilation so 
necessary in the laundry. 

If the laundry is to be on a level with the kitchen, it 
should be so planned that it be a distinct workshop without 
the very close relationship which too often brings about a 
wrong exchange of utensils, such as saucepans and spoons. 
For economy's sake, the same chimney which acts as a 
flue for the kitchen range can, of course, do duty for the 
laundry stove. One stove or the other can supply hot water 
for the laundry, and if planned ahead of time, one set of 
plumbing will do much to reduce the cost. 

If the more luxurious conditions are not possible — of a 
washerwoman coming by the day, or the laundress 
employed by the week — then the one maid or perhaps the 
two, or even the housekeeper herself, can with the laundry 
properly placed, do much to economize effort and cost of 



Equipment. 135 

equipment by having the laundry more closely joined to the 
kitchen. This does not mean bringing the two departments 
into one room. This means confusion, hindrance and too 
often great inconvenience, because the tools of one occupa- 
tion are in the way of the other. Therefore under the 
best conditions, and still economical ones, the laundry 
should be a separate place with its own working outfit, 
well-lighted, well-ventilated and finished as to floor and 
wall with every thought of having a dry, clean laundry. 

The walls should be of any finish that does not absorb 
moisture, and that can be easily wiped down to be cleaned. 
Whatever the walls, the ceilings may be of the same. The 
most ideal finish is a glazed white brick which may be of 
the form of bricks or of tiles. This being too expensive, a 
hard plaster for wall and ceiling with white enamel paint 
will be economical and, from the sanitation standpoint, 
especially good. With this kind of a wall and ceiling, a 
five-foot tile or glazed brick wainscoting will preserve the 
plaster and hence give a substantial finish. 

With the same idea carried to the floor, we could consider 
several materials: small white tile (small because it wears 
better); cement; interlocking rubber; or a heavy grade of 
linoleum. The last two will be found much easier for the 
feet, and for that reason are favored by many. If there is 
no heavy rolHng over these floors, they will be found to 
give good service. As far as cleanliness and dryness is 
concerned, they meet all requirements. 

The windows in the laundry should be large, and for 
extra ventilation a transom over each. This transom allows 
fresh air to enter the laundry without the hindrance of this 
air blowing directly on the work, which not only dries the 
garment about to be ironed, but cools the iron. The first 
objection that may be raised to this idea may be that the 



136 



Laundering. 



transoms do not harmonize with the rest of the building or 
are too expensive. As an alternative, one may put ventila- 
tors in the windows at the bottom, or a ventilator such as 
is over the kitchen range may be placed over the wash 
tubs and over the stove. These will not only carry out 
heat, but will also carry off any steam that may come from 
boiling clothes and from drying these indoors on wet days. 




I ***• 




Courtesy of " Good Housekeeping." 

For the summer time, the windows and doors should be 
well screened, as flies seem to delight in resting upon clean 
clothing. 

With the room finished, the type, cost and arrangement 
of equipment will require considerable thought if it is to be 
economical and at the same time efficient. In this planning, 
either for buying or arrangement, keep in mind the work 



Equipment. 137 

that is to be done, and at all times group and arrange the 
equipment or utensils with the thought of the process to be 
carried out. It may seem advisable to put the tubs in one 
special part of the room, because it is the most economical 
for plumbing. This being the case, a center for the wash- 
ing process is at once established. If a washing machine 
is to be used in conjunction with the tubs, naturally 
it is to be placed near it. It should be so near that the 
clothes may pass from tub to machine, or from machine to 
tub, without any carrying. Most machines are built with 
chutes so that this economy of labor is entirely possible. 
Keep this thought in mind, that a side light is better than 
a direct front light upon the tub, as the latter is a continual 
strain on the eyes of the worker. Again, for general cleanli- 
ness and for convenience, if the tub is to be used with a 
washing machine, it will be found better to set the tub away 
from the wall, so that it may be approached from all sides. 
One tub will be found sufficient, if a washing machine is 
used; if not, the time and effort saved will soon, in the 
worker's mind, balance the cost of three wash tubs, as it 
means opportunity for good rinsing, even in two waters, 
without the handicap of constantly shifting water. 

The stove is the next piece of equipment to consider, 
because in the process of washing there is a close relation- 
ship, in fact a connecting relationship, brought about by 
the way in which the stove is placed. For those who boil 
clothes, the first thought after washing is to get them on to 
boil. For this reason it ought to be comfortably near. 
This stove may do the work of boiling the clothes, heating 
the water and the irons, but at the present time it is possible 
to have it do all this and simultaneously heat a dryer, so 
that our clothes may be dried indoors. A corner of the 
laundry is the best place for the dryer, and is also a good 



138 Laundering. 

place for the stove. No special light is required, and for 
the drier there is the economy of two walls being already 
furnished. Whether we use the drier or the clothes line, 
the next step in the process is sprinkUng, and this requires 
either a table or a drop leaf shelf, either of which may be 
used for the starching and for the sprinkling. As the 
starching precedes the drying, and the sprinkling follows, 
this table or shelf should be placed near the drier, if there is 
one, and near the stove. This table can be zinc covered, or 
may be covered with white oilcloth, so that it is easily wiped 
up, kept clean and dry. 

The ironing section of the room should have good light, 
because of the uncertainty of scorching clothes, as well 
as being able to see when the wrinkles are ironed out. 
Whether an ironing table, skirt board or mangle, place near 
the windows, and, if possible, so the light will come from the 
left side of the worker. As one goes through the process 
from removing stains to washing, to starching, to sprinkling, 
to ironing, one should walk directly from one set of working 
equipment to the other. This is arrangement for efficiency. 

An efficient laundry need not be an expensive, luxurious 
one; it is only expensive and luxurious to the point that the 
worker has a proper tool for the task he is about to per- 
form. The choice comes after some study and investigation, 
perhaps some experiment, to get the best for the money it 
is possible to spend. For example, a ten cent sprayer 
attached to a cork which will fit any four or six ounce 
bottle, will sprinkle the clothes as quickly and as well as 
a so-called clothes sprinkler which costs forty to fifty cents. 

The small equipment — devices or tools — ^may be grouped 
near the working field in shelves, or, better still, in two small 
closets. Two closets, one for ironing equipment and one 
for washing, may be most convenient. Let the one or two 



Equipment. 



139 



closets be built with shelves sufficiently far apart to hold the 
various equipment and supplies. If there is one closet, have 
one-half for equipment and one-half for supplies. Narrow 
shelves for bottles and jars, so narrow that there can be but 
one row of bottles, make it easy to see quickly the various 
things needed. Spaces may be planned in this closet 
sufficiently large for the clothes boiler, and the wringer when 




HOME LAUNDRY EQUIPMENT. 

it is not one permanently attached to the washing machine. 
A rather high, narrow compartment might take the skirt 
board and the bosom board; even the curtain stretchers could 
stand in the back of this space. A hook conveniently 
placed for the bag containing the clothes pins and the 
clothes-line, and good, substantial shelves for irons, sauce- 
pans, starch and bluing, and a goodly quantity of soap. 
With the room well lighted and well aired, equipment and 



140 Laundering. 

supplies well bought, and a little study as to the best 
methods, one will find that the drudgery of laundry work 
is largely eliminated. 

Pieces of Equipment. 

Machines and devices of all kinds and at all prices may 
be bought by the housewife today. It is only for her to 
become better acquainted with the various principles 
involved in the construction of these machines and devices, 
and then she is able to make her decision as to which one 
she cares to buy. Besides considering the various prin- 
ciples, she must also decide which is the. greater economy — 
to do the work herseU, spending much time and energy 
which leaves little of either for the better, broader things 
of life, or to save in order to spend more and purchase a 
machine which will do half of the work for her. 

Cost, then, is the first thought, and all electrically driven 
machines are, in dollars and cents, the most expensive. 
The more powerful and lasting the motor, the greater the 
cost. Electricity not being possible, gasoline, acetylene or 
water may furnish the power. In the rural homes where 
gasoline and acetylene are used for lighting and power 
facilities, it would be better to choose a machine which may 
be run by either power. A water motor is efficient, but 
where one must pump water, or where there is not a 
plentiful and cheap supply of water, a washing machine 
propelled by a water motor is very expensive and oftentimes 
useless. One must be sure of two things before buying a 
water-driven machine — how much water pressure per 
square inch is required, and is that pressure obtainable. 

One must not feel that hand-driven machines are not 
labor savers, as they can do many more pieces in a given 
time and with less effort. No matter what the power, a 



Equipment. 



141 



washing machine is constructed on one of several principles. 
No matter what the power or principle, the efficient wash- 
ing machine or device will be so built as to force the soap 
and water through the clothes — and when the soap and 
water go through the clothes, they will naturally displace 
the dirt. 

There are five types of washing machines — one is called 




DOLLY WAvSHER. 



the "Dolly" type, and in this, the "Dolly," which is like a 
revolving milk stool, revolves in the center of an outer tub 
which contains soap and water through which the clothes 
are drawn. Care should be used in this machine that it 
is not over-packed, because of the danger of tearing. The 
principle of this "Dolly" machine is agitation. 

Another group of machines cleans the clothes by friction. 



142 



Laundering. 




Reproduced from Wayne Mfg. Co. Circular. 



Equipment. 



143 



This friction is brought about by corrugated disks of semi- 
circular boards, the latter being like a curved wash-board. 
The disks are revolved, the semicircular boards are rocked, 
cradle fashion. With either machine the clothes are rubbed 




Reproduced from Boss Circular. 



between these two grooved pieces of wood. It is really a 
double wash-board device. 

A third group revolves the clothes and hence agitates 
them in a cylinder-shaped machine. These machines are 



144 



Laundering. 




Courtesy of Hurley Machine Co. 




Courtesy of Hurley Machine Co. 



Equipment, 



145 



constructed with two cylinders, the inner cylinder, made 
either of wood or metal, is like a cage which holds the 
clothes. This cage revolves in the outer cylinder which 
contains soap and water. It is this type machine that is 
used in all commercial and institutional laundries, and may 




^^Bm 



\ *ft 



Courtesy of The Arora Co. 



be built with one or as many as five inner compartments. 
This latter five compartment machine is used in the many 
wet- wash laundries. The cheaper of these machines, if 
power-driven, rotate only in one direction, whereas the 
better ones reverse their action. Hand-driven rotary washers 



146 



Laundering. 



may be turned or reversed at will according to the desire of 
the worker. It is the reversing of the action which increases 
the efficiency of the machine. This machine, like any other, 
should not be overcrowded, so there should be sufficient 




Courtesy of Dodge &» Zuill. 

room for the clothes to drop from the top of the cylinder to 
the side as the inner cage revolves. 

^ A fourth type of machine, the pressure and suction prin- 
ciple, are spoken of as suction washers. Metal cones are 



Equipment. 



147 



attached to a lever which pushes the cones down against 
the clothes, then suddenly lifts them away. A suction is 
caused which draws out the dirt previously loosened by the 
pressure. 

Another type of machine oscillates or rocks the clothes 
in soapy water without friction. This is a box-shaped com- 
partment which rocks cradle fashion and cleans the clothes 





Courtesy of Judd Laundry Machine Co. 



by throwing the clothes rapidly from one side to the other. 
This rapid throwing creates a forceful displacement, hence 
the cleaning is rapid. 

Any of these machines will do good work if not over- 
loaded, if given sufficient time, and there need be no tearing 
if one is careful in taking the clothes from the machine. 
Very fine lingerie, or a number of little pieces like handker- 
chiefs or collars, can be placed in bags made of cheese-cloth, 



148 Laundering. 

or net bags especially made for the purpose, and may be 
bought in any laundry supply house. These supply houses 
will be found in all large cities. The nearest one may be 
learned from any public laundry or hospital laundry. 

Capacity. — The smaller power-driven machines have their 
capacity measured by the number of double sheets that 
they can wash at one time. If a machine is said to wash 
eight double sheets, perhaps better work will be found 
to result by attempting only seven. Full-sized table- 
cloths would be counted as sheets, four or five towels are 
equal to a double sheet, and three aprons to a sheet, etc. 

Materials. — A wooden washing machine will clean the 
clothes as well as a raetal one, and is less expensive 
besides needing less care. The soap and water will 
clean the wood, and will be likely to corrode the metal. 
The wooden machines will need to be left dry, as a 
continual soaking will cause them to be slimy. All 
washing machines should be so constructed with an 
outlet tap that there will be rapid and complete drainage 
of water. The machines should be allowed to air after 
use, and when dry, the cover should be placed on to keep 
them clean. 

To Set Up. — As has been said, the machine should be near the 
tubs in order to work in conjunction with them, and thus 
give the greatest help. Hot and cold water should be 
piped to it as to the sink. If this is not possible try to 
have a single faucet with both hot and cold water con- 
nected, and to this faucet fasten a short piece of hose with 
screw attachment. This entirely eliminates pailing 
water to the machine. 

Every machine has a water outlet, and only a little 
thought and money are required to have a drain from this 



Equipment. 149 

outlet as from any set wash tub. The outlet may be a 
funnel which leads into a pipe or a trough. Better 
work will result from this saving of effort, as it means 
the worker will be more likely to rinse the clothes 
thoroughly. 

To Operate. — See that the machine is well oiled and belts 
tight so that there is no wasted power. Have the soap 
in solution (see recipe, page 59). If the machine is 
piped with water to and from it, the clothes may be put 
into the machine, and cold water run in until the clothes 
float freely. Run ten minutes, and then let off this 
water. Run in hot water (and it should be quite hot, 
as the clothes are cold), add soap solution until good 
lasting suds are formed — about one pint of soap to a six- 
sheet washer. Run the machine ten minutes. Then 
let off soapy water and run in very hot water for five 
minutes; rinse and then change. Follow with two 
cold-water rinses, each five minutes. The clothes are 
ready for the bluing, which may be done in the machine 
if care is given. Bluing cannot be well done without 
a great deal of water, and the blue should be mixed with 
a pail full of water and poured into the machine. With 
rotary or pressure and suction washers, the blue is added 
with the machine in action. Three minutes is enough 
for this. In the smaller washers the bluing had better 
be done in the tub. This formula adds up thirty-eight 
minutes, but it means all the table linen done at one time, 
or perhaps all bedding and white clothes for a family 
of three, and means no strain for the worker. Some 
prefer to soak the clothes in the tub and also do the 
rinsing and bluing in the tub. This is easier if the ma- 
chine is not attached to the water and drainage pipes. 
The nervous worker feels she is gaining more time, but 



150 Laundering. 

instead she can be making starch, hanging or starching 
clothes while the machine is doing the next lot. 

Woolens are well done by machines, but the water 
temperature must be carefully considered. (See page 
107.) 

Cost.^ — The cost varies with the material used in construc- 
tion, strength of motor, and accuracy and endurance of 
mechanical parts. 

Rotary machines (electric motor) range from $75 to 

$175. Hand-driven, $6 to $12. 
Rotary machines (water motor) cost $35 to $50. 
Oscillating machines (electric motor), $125 to $150. 

Hand-driven, $11,75. 
Pressure and suction (electric motor), $85 to $150. 

Hand-driven, $1.50 to $12. 
Running and operating cost about If^ to 2 cents per 
hour. 

Small Washers. — A number of small washing appliances 
must be grouped with the so-called hand washing 
machines. One of these devices is in the form of a 
vacuum boiler, on the principle of a coffee percolator. 
It is easily handled, light in weight, easily kept clean and 
costs little. It is used by placing it in the bottom of a 
clothes boiler, funnel side down. The clothes are dis- 
tributed evenly around it, the boiler filled with cold 
water, to which shaved soap has been added. If the 
special stains have been removed, the soaking in cold 
water and the slow heating will remove the usual ones — 
such as egg, meat juice, oil, cream, etc. This washer 
cannot be used for colored clothes or woolens, because 
for both, boiling is impossible. It is such a good labor 
saver, and is so inexpensive that it can easily be afforded 



Equipment. 



151 



for the saving accomplished on the other clothes. The 
cost is $2.50 to $3.50. 

Again, there is the funnel type. This funnel is raised 
by a lever handle, so that the work is most efficient and 
at the same time very easy. It is a hollow cone, and may 
be bought for any type of wash-tub; and where set 
tubs are not in use, it can be purchased with a galvanized 
iron tub, mounted on legs, with a water outlet in the 




Courtesy of Dodge b" Zuill. 

bottom. . This machine has its own stove and the 
clothes may be boiled in the tub. Again, the ease of the 
leverage is increased by a heavy spring, which draws 
the handle quickly away from the worker. This ma- 
chine, of the kind to be used in a stationary tub, costs 
$8 ; the one with its own tub, such as would be of service 
in the country, or in camps where there are no stationary 
tubs, costs from $14 to $16. 



152 Laundering. 

Another funnel machine has recently appeared. It 
is constructed with four smaller sections inside which 
increase the suction. This machine can be found in 
three sizes, with a long and a short handle, so that it 
may be used in wash tubs and wash basins as well. 



Courtesy of Dodge & Zuill. 

This is purely a suction machine, entirely of hand power, 
and depending upon the leverage of the arm. Initial 
cost, $1.50 to $3.50. 
Wash Tubs. — One to three tubs should be in every laundry. 
A tub and a sink combination will be found most useful 



Equipment. 



153 



where a washing machine and one tub are considered. 
Stationary tubs are most convenient, as they ehminate 
Hfting and can have a drain easily connected even if 
hot and cold water piped to them is not possible. These 





tubs are made of various kinds of material which makes 
it possible to come within every one's means. In all 
cases, legs, piping and faucets are extra. A few sugges- 
tions will help in the choosing of a tub. Wooden set 
tubs are cheap, but not durable, and hard to keep sweet 



154 Laundering. 

and clean. A single tub without plumbing connection 
costs about $8. Concrete and stone, easily cleaned, 
with round comers, about $12 per unit. 

Slate is not expensive, easily kept clean, but not a 
pretty color, about $16 to $19 per double tub. 

Soapstone (called Alberene) comes in single sections. 
The color is gray, material fairly durable, easily cleaned. 
Cost $13 to $18. 

Porcelain tubs are durable, easily cleaned with soap 
and water or a little kerosene with cloth (no abrasive 
material), but are expensive, costing $36 to $40 for the 
white porcelain, and $27 to $29 for the yellow porcelain. 

A stationary tub should be set sufficiently high so the 
worker's back is straight, and so the forward bending is 
from the waist. For a woman about five feet five inches 
tall, the top rim of a tub can be about thirty-six inches 
from the floor. Gas piping will make legs of the desired 
height if those belonging to the tub are too short. The 
faucets should either be bell type or they should be set 
above the tub, so that by no chance the clothes may 
catch and tear on them. 

If the expense of a stationary tub seems impossible, 
wooden or papier mache tubs may be bought, and they 
may stand on a bench. These benches are usually low, 
but they can be blocked up to make them higher, and 
so lift the tubs. Even this simple, inexpensive equip- 
ment may be stationary, and hot or cold water piped to 
the tubs. Holes may be made in the bottom of either 
tub and a plug put in for drainage to a pipe or a trough. 

It is not the expensive equipment that is the most 
serviceable and complete. 
Wringers. — A wringer greatly assists in hand washing. One 
for a stationary tub would be more helpful if it were of 



Equipment. 



155 



reversible action, so that it coiild be put between two 
tubs and used without change. Wringers can be pur- 
chased at from $2 to $8, but it pays to consider the better 
quahty, which should mean hard rubber rolls, heavy 
side springs and ball-bearing action. The care of the 
wringer does much to counterbalance the cost price. 
It should never be left with the pressure on when not 
in use, as this will cause the rolls to flatten. Wipe the 




Courtesy of Lovell Mfg. Co. 



wringer dry and slip on a cover, which can be a loose bag 
easily put on; and if for any reason the rolls are badly 
stained, they may be wiped off with a cloth moistened 
with kerosene. Kerosene removes stains because oil 
dissolves rubber and this is the principle involved in 
cleaning the rubber rolls. Use little kerosene,- wipe 
quickly to dissolve a thin layer and wash thoroughly 
to remove all oil. The electric machines are usually 
equipped with their own wringers which are worked 
with the same motor that washes the clothes. 



156 



Laundering. 



Mangles. — Mangles are as much a time and labor saver to 
the ironer as the washing machine is to the washer. 




Courtesy of Lovell Mfg. Co. 




Courtesy of Lovell Wringer Co. 

COLD MANGLE. 



The mangle is an old device for pressing the clothes. 
Today the cold mangle may be bought which simply 
presses out the creases without giving any gloss, and 



Equipment. 157 

without any of the steriHzation which comes with the 
usual hot ironing. A cold mangle is constructed like 
a wringer, the rolls of hard wood, with springs at each 
side which control the pressure. It may be clamped 
to any table by the use of a thumb screw. More expen- 
sive ones will be found with their own table. 

The clothes are slightly dampened, rolled and then, 
instead of being ironed, are folded and put through the 
mangle. By repeating the process, each time folding 
to increase the thickness, the work is made complete. 
As there is no heat, the pieces must be hung up to dry 
after pressing. The initial cost of the cold mangle 
covers a large range, from $6.50 to $25, depending upon 
whether it consists solely of the rolls which are to be 
attached to the table, or whether a table is its base, and 
again upon the strength and size of the spring. 

Heated mangles may be run by electricity or by hand. 
One of these is gas-heated and hand-turned; the more 
expensive ones are gas-heated and electrically-driven. 
A steel cylinder plays the part of the iron, ironing the 
clothes, which are usually flat pieces. There are two 
rolls to these mangles, one a heated cylinder, the other 
a cloth-covered cylinder which takes the place of the 
ironing board. These mangles cost from $25 to $75, the 
price varying with the size and quality of the mechanism, 
and the fuel and power cost depending on the size. 
They will be found to use from twenty to twenty-seven 
cubic feet of gas per hour at the cost of two to 2.7 cents 
per hour; the power, two to five cents per hour, depend- 
ing upon the size of the mangle. Cost $125 to $175. 

Electrically heated mangles are the most expensive, 
costing about fifty cents an hour to heat and twenty-five 
cents per hour to operate. This cost may be reduced by 



158 



Laundering. 



heating only one-half of the roll when ironing napkins, 
towels, and handkerchiefs; this is possible through a 
cut-off switch. Electrically heated mangles, electrically 
driven, are of great service where gas is not possible. 
Cost from $200 to $350. 

Mangles must be covered with the same care as an 




HEATED MANGLE. 



ironing board and the covers should be kept clean and 
free from lint. When not in use keep the mangle 
covered to keep the machine free from dust. For good 
work the rolls should press evenly on each other. This 
means that the covering be of equal thickness on the 
roll and that the pressure be ths same at each end. 



Equipment. 159 

Buttons are harmful to the steam heated roll and 
often are broken in going through. Starched garments 
should not be mangled. They require a so-called body- 
ironer, if done by machinery, as in the laundry. 

Wax the steel roll in the same way as an iron, and, 
like an iron, be very sure it is thoroughly wiped off. 
Unbleached muslin is the best mangle cover and either 
an old blanket or heavy silence cloth the usual padding. 
Wool felt may be bought especially for mangles through 
the laundry supply houses. Always remove pressure 
when not using mangles. 

Ironing Boards, Table and Sleeve Boards.— Some general 
suggestions will be the most helpful. The ironing 
surface should be very firm and large enough to allow a 
large space to be ironed at one time and also to support 
the garment while it is being ironed. Sleeve boards 
should have a small, narrow end and a larger end, and 
one with its own base will be most useful. Tables are 
especially useful for large flat pieces and for drying 
sweaters and laces, while the skirt board is a necessity 
for easy dress and skirt ironing. The tables may be 
used for sprinkling and starching by covering with a 
piece of enamel cloth. The skirt boards may be stretched 
from table to chair, but it will be found more convenient 
to have it on its own standard or one end hinged to the 
wall to be ready for use and quickly folded up against 
the wall when not in use. 

A stationary iron standard with board, gas stove and 
two water pans may be bought. These are most con- 
venient and have been most efficiently arranged, for 
they are used by the commercial and institutional 
laundries where efficiency must be considered. 

To fasten the ironing pads and covers, thumb tacks 



160 



Laundering. 



may be used, or the pads may be tacked on and the 
musHn covers tied or snapped on. To buy musHn for 
covers, choose that which is sixty inches wide, so the 
width of the musHn may be the length of the cover. 
This does away with waste lengths, so is no more expen- 
sive. Cut the muslin wide enough to have the cover 
turn about two inches under all sides of the boards. 
Hem all sides with a half -inch hem, and sew tapes, five 
or six to a side. The tapes will make the covering and 
removing of covers a matter of a few seconds, no noise, 
no time needed to pull out tacks. Two covers to each 
board or table will mean time saving and a clean cover 
always ready. 




Irons. — Irons, no matter what their heating appliance, should 
first be considered for their weight and for their shape. 
It is claimed that the worker with the old fashioned flat- 
iron should have three irons ready for use. The weight 
of any of these three flat-irons must be, after all, more or 
less to the worker's liking. Three in all is rather a lim- 
ited number for one who does varied work, and especially 
for one who is to do fine, dainty lingerie. She will find 
that besides her three — varying in weight from five to 
eight pounds — she needs a small iron with a decided point 
for little ruffles and for narrow edgings, such as might 
be found on baby's clothes. For perfect sleeve work 



Equipment. 161 

she will like the long, narrow sleeve-iron, which noses 
its way well into the gathers and tucks of the sleeve. 
Irons with adjustable handles are desired by some iron- 
ers, as no cloth holder is required. Fluting or ruffle 
irons are efficient and make many garments most attrac- 
tive. Plaiting can be done with knife C ' knife plaiting ' ') 
or with the fingers and the irons. 

Electric irons, gas and alcohol irons are most helpful 
in reducing the heat in the summer and are economical 
besides. They require no hot stove, no walking to and 




Courtesy of Vulcan Electric Heating Co. 

IRON. 

fro to change iron, and some are of great convenience 
in traveling. 
Electric Irons. — The electric iron is perhaps the best of the 
recent new irons. It is decidedly an economizer of time 
and labor. An iron of from six to eight pounds is the 
best for rapid ironing, because unless an iron be suffi- 
ciently large to have considerable heating surface, it 
will cool with heavy ironing faster than it heats. As a 
safety device to these irons, it is wise to have a small 
one-candle-power electric light connected with the 
attachment plug to show by its light whenever the iron 



162 Laundering. 

is in use. A good plan is to lift the wire above the board 
by a "bird-cage" spring. The advantage of this spring 
is that it lifts the pipe or cord, as well as gives play when 
the iron is in use. This wire should be cared for by not 
knotting or twisting it, because the fine, individual 
wires of which the cord is made are as fine as No. 60 
spool cotton, and the bending back and forth which the 
knotting and twisting does causes these wires to break. 
The conductor of the current is not only broken, but 
often these broken ends come in contact with metal 
and give a spark and many sparks may produce a flame. 

Gas Irons are like a small stove with the gas burning in them. 
Many of these irons turn so that as the bottom is being 
used and cools, the top is heating ready to be turned to 
do the ironing. This is a good point, as often the iron 
cools faster than the heat can reheat and two irons would 
otherwise be needed. 

Be sure the rubber hose conducting the gas is flexible 
and of good rubber — preferably wound with wire to 
prevent its knotting or twisting. 

Alcohol Irons burning denatured alcohol are of great service, 
because they can be used in all homes where gas or 
electricity is not possible and are of great use in 
traveling. Their construction is not unlike the gas iron, 
except that they carry their fuel tank on their back, so 
to speak. 

Charcoal Irons often meet a great need, but so far their 
heating power is not rapid enough to do heavy, continu- 
ous work. 

With either the gas or the alcohol iron, see that it is 
so constructed that its flame is always blue and not 



Equipment. 163 

yellow, and that its flame does not flare backwards, as 
the yellow flame will soot the iron, and the burning 
backwards may be dangerous. 

To Choose an Iron. — Consider weight, and for all self -heating 
irons examine the extent of their heating surface. An 
iron should heat evenly so that its scorch is even. This 
can be tested by a folded piece of new cloth or even paper. 
If there are spots that do not scorch, they show uneven 
heating. A good iron of even heating power and good 
metal should hold its heat for a reasonable time and not 
cool quickly on light-weight fabrics^ 

Care of Irons. — Cleanliness should be the uppermost thought. 
To clean, wash the common flat-irons like a pan, with 
sandsoap, Dutch Cleanser, ashes or salt. Then wash 
with hot, soapy water, rinse in hot water, wipe dry, and 
when dry, warm and cover with a thin coating of wax. 
To clean the self -heating irons, warm them by burning 
their own fuel, rub with wax and then rub in salt, Dutch 
Cleanser, or on emery paper. Wipe with a cloth, wax 
and rub clean. 

Cost. — Flat-irons average about five cents a pound. Gas 
irons from $1.50 to $6.50, the operating costing about 
half a cent per hour. Electric irons average $1 a pound 
and cost three or four cents per hour to operate. Alcohol 
irons cost from $1.50 to $7, the price varying like the 
other irons according to the size. 

Clothes Driers have improved, like the other laundry equip- 
ment, with rapid strides. From the hemp clothes line 
or wire stretched for drying clothes, we have those that 
fold, pull out or suspend, and those that are like a real 
room with steam or hot air for the drying. Naturally 



164 



Laundering. 



there is a great range of cost, -from three cents a yard for 
clothes line — and one usually allows 50 to 100 yards — to 
$5 for overhead suspended ones that may be used in 
the kitchen, and then on up to even several hundred 
dollars, the price for those used in institutions and com- 
mercial laundries. These latter are so constructed as to 
cause the clothes to travel in and out of the heated room 




CLOTHES DRIERS. 



and when dry, an automatic hand pushes the clothes 
off into a basket. 

Driers that are like rooms should be ventilated to 
allow escape for moisture and steam, and to increase the 
ventilation, those that do the most rapid drying are 
equipped with an electric fan. Clothes are not likely 
to yellow in these well-ventilated driers. 



Equipment. 



165 



Clothes Sprinklers. — Saving of time and effort has made us 
lay aside the use of the hand as a sprinkler for a method 
which is quicker and with most workers gives more even 
results. There are various kinds: a whisk broom set 
aside for the purpose, five cents; a sprayer that may be 
used in any pint bottle, five cents; a tin can with a 
handle at one side, and a fine perforated top at thirty- 

n 




Courtesy of Jos. L. Cohen, New York. 

five to forty cents; a rubber bulb sprayer Hke that used 
for spraying plants; and a fine mist sprayer attached 
to a hose. These are all efficient, but the m.ost suit- 
able is the one easily dried, with fine holes, and not too 
expensive. 

Clothes Hampers and Baskets.— The usual distinction is 
that the basket is used in the laundry and the hamper 



166 Laundering. 

as a soiled clothes container holding the linen that is 
waiting to be washed. The hampers may be woven 
baskets like those used most in homes, or they may be 
metal cans as used in hospitals, or may be papier mache, 
white enamel painted. The latter two have much in 
their favor, as they may be washed with soap and water, 
hot rinsed and wiped dry. Again they are smooth and 
afford less chance for collecting dirt and hence germs. 
Bags for collecting and holding soiled linen are good, 
provided they can be washed. They should be sent 
each week to the laundry as the soiled clothes are sent. 
Wicker hampers may have muslin bag linings and these 
linings may be washed. Have two, so that while one is 
drying a second one may be slipped in. Baskets may be 
lined as suggested for hampers, and if put on wheels 
they will be of greater help, as there will be no need of 
lifting them or no occasion of dragging them and wearing 
them out. 

Iron Holders. — Iron holders may be bought for a small sum, 
five and ten cents. They are rtiade of ticking and asbes- 
tos, but many prefer to make their own, which can be 
done with no expense other than the woman's time. 
Folded stockings covered with denim or with ticking 
make excellent holders, as the stockings are good non- 
conductors of heat. Two holders will make ironing 
easier, as a change from a hot to a cold holder is restful 
to the hand. 

Clothes Pins. — Clothes pins should be bought of the best 
quality and should be kept very clean by keeping them 
in a bag. A bag made like an apron is most convenient, 
as the pins may be right at hand. Make the pockets 
broad rather than deep. 



Equipment. 167 

Curtain Stretchers are of great use in finishing long lace cur- 
tains or shaping blankets. They are not expensive, 
therefore choose the best. The frame should be very 
substantial to prevent warping; an easel is a great 
convenience, as it means the stretcher may be placed 
out of the way. The pins may be movable with the idea 
of fitting all scallops, but the stationary pins are more 
substantial and very satisfactory. For straight edges 
to be pinned, one may baste to the edge of the ciu'tain 
or tack to edge of the stretcher a piece of tape, and the 
pinning be done on this. Some prefer to tack tape or 
ticking or unbleached muslin to the frame and pin to 
this instead of using the frame. This latter frame can 
easily be made in the home. 

Stoves. — So far nothing has been said concerning stoves for 
the laundry. They are almost legion, from wood, coal 
or gas, shaped to hold just irons; better still, they 
should heat the water, heat the irons and have a place 
to boil the clothes or the starch. These stoves need not 
be large to do all this work. Cost varies from $4 to $18. 

Starching Outfit. — The pans for starching and for cooking 
starch should be chosen with the thought of having 
material which is easily kept clean, and the eooking 
saucepan should be heavy enough to prevent scorching. 
Enamel ware is perhaps the best for both saucepan and 
starching pan. If the color of the laundry is white, 
white enamel may be chosen for these utensils, although 
it will be found not to wear quite so well as the gray. 
Neither of these pans is so expensive but that one may 
be set aside for this purpose with the thought that there 
will be no need of using pans that may be greasy. The 
strainer for starch should be of medium-fine mesh. 



168 Laundering. 

A wooden spoon, quart measuring cup, tablespoon and 
teaspoon will complete the outfit.' 

Testing Outfit. — Much of the testing can be done with an 
ordinary teacup and saucepan with perhaps a glass or 
two, but it will be found that a few glass test-tubes, a 
measuring glass, two or three glass beakers, a package 
of filter paper (about four inches in diameter), a glass 
funnel (about three inches across), will make the testing 
easier, as with glass, quantities can be more easily 
measured and results more easily determined. 

Institutional Machinery. 

The general suggestions concerning the wall and floor 
finish of the home laundry may be considered for the institu- 
tional laundry. The whole room or rooms should be built 
with the idea of good ventilation and good light, and with 
every consideration that will promote the best sanitary con- 
ditions. Naturally the problem is a larger one with the work 
carried on in a building by itself. If the floor space is not 
extremely valuable, the building may be broad and of one 
story. In this case the room is divided by either a definite 
or an imaginary partition, with the thought that one section 
contains the washing outfit and the other section the ironing 
outfit. Even so, it is only a difference of size, because the 
idea of arranging the equipment with the thought of right 
relationship and economy of space and time is the same as in 
a small laundry. 

With this larger problem, and a greater quantity of soiled 
linen to be cleaned, there should be a special room planned 
for the delivery and sorting of clothes, and this room should 
be adjoining the wash room. A second small room adjoin- 
ing the ironing room is needed for the sorting and collecting 



Equipment. . 169 

of clean linen. There should be a room for the work people, 
properly equipped with lockers and dressing facilities. 

If the plant is very extensive, it naturally must reach in 
height, and in this case the division of departments is 
brought about by having each department on a floor by it- 
self. Height of building overcomes expense of land, but of 
course involves expense of elevators and lifts, as well as more 
supervision by heads of departments. 

Anything that has been said concerning the arrangement 
of washing machines or wash tubs may be transferred in 
thought to the arrangement of power washing machinery. 
The washing machines (and even in a small laundry, two 
are greater economy than one) should be grouped close 
together, so that one drain may be the outlet for the 
several machines. One extractor, which is the wringer in a 
big laundry, will wring the clothes washed by two machines. 
This extractor then should be put between the machines, in 
direct line with them, or set off from them with a passage- 
way between, in a right angle triangle relationship. In this 
latter arrangem.ent the extractor has its own drain. If a 
tumbler is used, for efficiency's sake place it near the ex- 
tractor, as the clothes go directly from the extractor to the 
tumbler. Some of the more modern tumblers today are 
heated, so that simultaneously as the clothes are being 
shaken, ready for mangling or for starching, they are parti- 
ally dried. This machine is especially good for flannels, as 
the tossing while drying keeps them soft and fluffy. 

The drier is of great use in institutions, because here the 
work must be accomplished regardless of weather. Driers 
today are built to meet all sorts of requirements. There are 
those that have racks for the garments to hang until dry, 
about twenty minutes; those that "trolley" the clothes in 
and around the drier and its automatic hand pushes the 



1 70 Laundering. 

garment at the end of its journey off into the basket. 
Driers are made for curtains and blankets where each 
section is Hke a curtain stretcher. These sections may be 
pushed in Hke drawers, and consequently economize space. 

Because indoor drying is without fresh air, there should be 
special thought to having a circulation of what air there is so 
that all good driers are set up with an outlet flue and are 
built with electric fans. The flue and the fan promote a 
rapid drying, because there is the outlet for the warm moist 
air, and the fan creates a rapid drying, so that there is less 
chance of yellowing of clothes. Metal racks are preferable 
to wooden ones, as they do not warp and do not produce 
yellow streaks on the clothes. As a safeguard against the 
racks marking the clothes, and again as a surety against soil, 
slips may be made of canvas or heavy muslin to cover the 
bars. Make the slips tubular like a bolster case, and large 
enough so that they slip on easily. Wrapping the bars 
bandage fashion will serve for cleanliness, but there is the 
great work of the wrapping and unwrapping. 

The ironing section should be large, because the flat work 
ironers or mangles occupy a great amount of room and each 
fiat work ironer should have two tables near; one to receive 
the folded sheets and table cloths to be ironed, and one to 
receive them after ironing. For safety's sake many feel 
that this table should be covered with zinc or galvanized iron 
to prevent danger from fire. The flat work taken from the 
mangle and folded quickly, then stacked in piles, naturally 
holds a great amount of heat. If this table is large, there 
will be room for the workers to sort and stack like kinds 
of goods as fast as they fold. This does away with the 
second handling. Body ironers, and bosom and collar and 
cuff ironers should be placed near the windows, so that good 
light comes from the side of the worker. The same points 



Equipment, 171 

concerning the cleanliness and the oiling of the small ma- 
chines may be considered for the large work. 

The laundry supply houses furnish various kinds of heavy 
felts and pads for the mangles, and this same material will 
be of service for ironing boards and all small machine ironers. 
This padding is expensive, but with care, which means pre- 
venting scorch, taking the pressure off of mangle and body 
ironers as soon as finished, these felts will last for several 
months. To re-felt the pads remove from the rolls, place 
in the washer, and with the washer revolving, turn on live 
steam, let run for five or ten minutes, and the felt will be 
soft, fluffy and ready for further use. 

This method of re-felting of course can only be used when 
the felts are clean, as it in no way washes. If the felt is to 
be washed, it should be washed as any wool by using waters 
of the same temperature and soap in solution. (See chapter 
on Woolens.) The muslin or canvas covers will need cleans- 
ing more often, because they, like the ironing-board cover 
get the direct wear. Usually these covers are changed once 
a week, on whatever day that the plan of work sees the wash- 
ing finished. Many institutions close Saturday noon as soon 
as the work is finished ; then the muslin or canvas covers are 
taken from the mangles, washed, and may be put on by the 
manglers on Monday morning; for example, while the wash- 
man is getting the clothes ready to be mangled. The covers 
of the smaller machines are cleaned in the same way and 
usually at the same time. The thought of a regular day 
for this work must be laid aside if the covers need changing 
before that time. Clean clothing will not come off of soiled 
ironing cloths. 

To replace these clean felts, make a heavy paste of flour 
and water, and with a knife or with a paint brush about two 
inches wide, spread the paste along one edge of the felt, 



172 Laundering . 

having placed the felt under the roll and ready to be rolled 
around it. This brings the paste on the upper edge ready to 
adhere to the felt which is brought up to meet it. One person 
starts the machine, and one or two others hold the felt, 
resisting the machine as its action winds it around the roll. 
The clean muslin is not fastened at the starting end, but 
about six or eight inches of it are laid under the last lap of 
the felt. Again the machine is started, and its action winds 
the muslin tightly around the roll. There should be even 
and firm resistance on the part of the person holding the 
muslin. If the pressure is on the mangles and body ironers 
as the covers are replaced, the result will be smoother, freer 
from wrinldes and straighter. A roll should measure the 
same in circumference along its entire length and the pres- 
sure of all rolls on the heated steel roll should be equal. 
This may be detemiined by heavy folded paper or by a 
heavy towel with the machine in action. To test with a 
folded paper is like testing with a wedge — it should go in 
with the same resistance or ease between the heated roll 
and the cloth roll, and each roll should give the same pres- 
sure as its neighbor. Uneven pressure is instantly dis- 
covered if sheets or table cloths are fed into the machine 
perfectly straight and come out pulled with a long, pointed 
corner. At the same time, but not so quickly, it will be seen 
that the edge of the mangle roll is no longer straight, but is 
pushing out farther at one end than at the other. Continued 
use of the mangle with uneven pressure will result in torn 
mangle cloths, and is often the reason for delicate flat work 
being torn. It is economy to have two sets ready for service, 
as the frequent re-felting helps to preserve the pads and 
requires time. The muslin or canvas covers from the large 
mangles can be cut down so that the best is used for the 
smaller machines. If not for the machines, for the skirt 
and sleeve boards. 



Equipment. 173 

Each machine should be equipped with its own motor, be- 
cause then there is no danger and no inconvenience from 
the belts, which one motor necessitates. It means that if 
one machine is out of order, the whole laundry is not crippled. 
Individual motors are safeguards because the worker may 
instantly cut off the power of that special machine. Again, 
overhead belting requires much cage protection to prevent 
catching of clothing. In all large institutions there is plenty 
of power, which is usually created by the institution and 
used for many other purposes. In the smaller institutions, 
the power may be supplied from the city plant. Running 
miachines without giving them work, or running them with 
insufficient heat, with steam valves leaking, and running the 
washers without an established formula, represents great 
waste. It seemiS like a drop in the bucket in the beginning; 
if added up at the end of the year, it means large coal bills, 
large water and electricity bills, and oftentimes it means a 
big salary expense, because workers have been standing, wait- 
ing for a machine to have power or heat to do its work. 
A good head laundryman will be sure that there is no leak- 
age, and will see to it that the work and his workers are suffi- 
ciently organized to do all and perhaps more than is planned 
for them without the least waste. With this same thought 
of prohibiting waste, he must have knowledge of the quality 
of his supplies. Soap should be all soap, bluing entirely 
soluble; in fact, all supplies that are the purest will be the 
cheapest. 

To Clean Washers. — Wooden washers require little cleaning, 
as the soda which is used in most soap solutions bleaches 
the wood and keeps it clean. Metallic washers are 
quickly covered with a scum. Continued collecting 
of this scum causes the openings in the inner cylinder 
to partially close and naturally, to a limited extent, 



174 Laundering. 

reduces the action. This scum needs to be dissolved 
off, but should not be done too often, as it is best done 
with an acid, which to a certain extent is injurious to 
the copper and brass of which the inner cylinder is made. 
The injury is slight for one time, but it is enough to 
warrant the washer being cleaned at regular intervals, 
perhaps once a month or once in two months. Citric 
acid, oxalic acid and sulphuric and hydrochloric acids 
are used for the cleaning. The least injurious, citric 
acid, is the most expensive. Sulphuric acid will cost 
about half as much as the oxalic acid. Use one pound 
of acid to about two inches of hot water in the cylinder. 
Many prefer the hydrochloric acid because it is especially 
active on the scum. Dissolve the citric and oxalic 
acid crystals before using. Let run for five or ten min- 
utes until the washer clears. Deliver and then give 
several hot rinsings, to be sure that no acid remains in 
the washer to injure it or to injure the clothes. 
Loading Extractors. — In loading extractors, the heavy 
pieces, such as spreads and bath towels, should, when- 
ever possible, be placed at the bottom of the basket. 
Place the goods in the basket in bunches and pack 
fairly tight. See that the ends of one bunch are 
entirely in the basket ; that is, do not have loose ends 
hanging out to become entangled with the next bunch. 
Move the basket around and press the linen against the 
sides. By loading in this way you will not have the 
pieces "crossed" and will avoid having the linen tear 
or split, as the extractor gains speed. By crossed pieces 
is meant where the ends of a sheet or cloth are fastened 
by the weight of the load in opposite sides of the basket, 
and as the goods are forced back by the centrifugal 
force, the piece is stretched as tight as a drum head, 



Equipment. 175 

and often splits. Sleeves, for example, should be folded 
into the garment and bunched with it. Load the 
extractor flush with the top of a basket, then cover 
with a round canvas three inches larger than the top 
of the basket and start slowly. By using covers you 
keep out dirt and you also keep the clothes in place. 
Never hold your hand on the extractor after it has 
started. See that it runs evenly and does not wabble. 
This shows even loading, which is most necessary. 

To Make Soap Solution.— To use soap powders in an insti- 
tution is considered by most workers to be very ex- 
travagant. To use all soap is considered expensive. 
Washing soda of a high quality, such as is specially 
prepared for laundries today, is considered harmless 
if it is combined in the soap solution. Nothing is so 
harmful, wasteful and reckless as to allow soda to be 
thrown by cupfuls or handfuls into the washer. A 
washing solution must be established to suit different 
kinds of water. Some of the hard waters will require 
more soda in the soap solution than others. The water 
should be measured, the soap weighed, and the two 
heated at a low temperature in the soap tank until 
all soap is dissolved and the liquor is amber color. 
The weighed quantity of soda is sprinkled in, and the 
solution simmered another ten minutes. For a general 
idea of proportion one may use : 

5 lbs. of soap. 
10 lbs. of soda. 
25 gallons of water. 

The capacity of the soap tank giving the leading 
thought as to the amount of soap and soda to be used. 
Generally speaking, the ratio is one part of soap, one 



176 Laundering. 

part soda and five parts water, the soda being decreased 
or increased according to the nature of the water, 
with the care that the soda must not be in excess. 
By excess is meant that the soda shoiild not be more 
than is needed to soften the water and produce good 
suds with the soap used. 
To Make Bluing. — Dissolve one ounce of aniline blue in 
one gallon of warm water. When entirely dissolved, 
filter through filter paper and bottle. To a 200-shirt 
washer, use one ounce of this bottled solution. Intro- 
duce it into the revolving washer by first adding it to 
a pail of water. (The various bluings prepared by the 
various manufacturers and sold in the different laundry 
supply houses usually come with directions for their 
use. If the bluings are to be soured or acidulated, the 
proportions are usually given.) 
Wash Formulas. 

For White Goods. 
I. 

Cold soak, 4 inches in washer 10 minutes 

Deliver. 

Hot water plus soap, 3 inches 20 

Steam 20 

Deliver. 

Hot water, 3 inches 10 

Deliver. 

Hot water, 3 inches 10 

Cold water, 3 inches 10 

Deliver. 

Cold water, 4 inches plus bluing 5 

Deliver. 
Extract. 



Equipment. 177 

II. 

Cold soak, 4 inches in washer 10 minutes 

Deliver. 

Cold water and soap, 3 inches 10 

Deliver. 

Cold water and soap and steam, 3 inches 20 
Deliver. 

Hot water, 3 inches 10 

Deliver. 

Hot water, 3 inches 10 

Deliver. 

Cold water, 3 inches ' 10 

Deliver. 

Cold water and blue, 4 to 5 inches 5 

This method, if used continuously, will do much 
towards eliminating bleaching. 



Woolen Outing and Delicate Colors. 

1. 20 minutes, suds 1 10° F. 

2. 20 '* suds 110° F. 

3. 5 " rinse 110° F. 

4. 5 ** rinse 110° F. 

The above includes: Automobile coats. 

Light colors. 
Waists, colored and fine. 
Pongee, white. 



178 Laundering. 

Woolen Blankets. 

Soap up water at 100° F. 

1. 20 minutes, suds. 

2. 20 " suds. 

3. 5 " rinse, water at 100° F. 

4. 5 " rinse, water at 100° F. 

Comforts. 

Same as above, only do not soap up before putting 
comforts in tub. 



PART III. 



CHAPTER XIX. 
SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS. 

Various suggestions are given with the thought that no 
set rule will help all who may be planning to teach laundry 
work, and that some one of the suggestions may meet the 
need. 

If the teacher of cookery wishes to give little or much 
laundry work to her students, and must give it in her kitchen 
class room, portable benches which fold, camp-chair fashion, 
and papier mache tubs can be used to good advantage. If 
there seems to be no room for this quantity of equipment, 
enamel pans or small wooden tubs of the toy size may be 
stood on the table tops. Napkins, handkerchiefs, students' 
hand towels, caps and sleeves, and the small uniform apron; 
ribbons, laces and knit hoods or gloves can easily be done 
with this equipment. For individual boiling, the enamel 
pans which have been used for the tubs may be placed on 
the individual burners. Or, if time does not warrant this, 
the boiler may be placed on a large cook stove, and each 
student may soap her own garment and put it in the large 
class boiler to boil. At the table, with these same agate pans, 
or even the small wash tubs, each student may do her own 
bluing and may heat her irons on the individual burner 
used for a cook stove. 

Many teachers will have to plan to hang the clothes in 
the laboratory after the class is gone, appointing one stu- 
dent to retiu-n to take down all the washing for this one 
section. The sprinkling should be individual work and may 
be done at the table, and each individual cooking table 

(181) 



182 Laundering. 

will afford sufficient ironing space for all small articles. 
Small boards, like dough boards, can be covered, and will 
illustrate as much as the large skirt board, which may not 
be possible to use because of its size and the space needed 
for it to stand. This gives an individual ironing space for 
each student. Again, skirt boards may be possible and can 
easily be made most practical by attaching a wooden flat 
leg by a hinge to one end of the board. When used, place 
one end on the cooking table and let the leg down and in 
this way the student may use the individual stove for heat- 
ing the irons, and still as many use the table as when cooking. 
The author has found that good work may be done by giving 
each student a square of padding and a square of muslin, 
and with a table which has the unvarnished top, these 
ironing-board covers may be fastened by thumb tacks to 
the table. It makes the lessons where only small articles 
are used for illustrations possible and at the same time 
practical. 

Group Work. 

A teacher may have older students, and feel that she 
would prefer to use the larger articles just the same as 
would be used for the family wash. This rather necessitates 
for these larger things larger utensils, and as space is still a 
problem the alternative seems to be group work, three or 
four washing at one tub, using perhaps one wringer and 
the one boiler. This work must be carried on as in any 
group work, with each student having a special part of the 
whole process for which she is responsible. This can be 
done, but can be easily understood to be unsatisfactory 
because naturally no one person is responsible for the whole 
garment, and no one is likely to acknowledge careless wash- 
ing or ironing, and, of course, no one has done the scorching. 



Suggestions for Teachers. 1 83 

If the washing of one week waits over to be the ironing for 
the next week, as is most always found necessary, perhaps 
the space of the room, the time of the lesson and the 
thought of keeping the students busy can be best brought 
about by having half iron and half wash the first part of 
the lesson. As each group finishes the process they were 
doing first, they may go directly to the second. 

Often in planning a building, or where room for a laundry 
is being sought, it may be possible to use a part of the 
basement or, from experience, the upper part of the school 
(the attic of the home) will make a practical laundry, 
because this often is unused space, and in a school is usually 
well lighted and can be well ventilated. In this kind of a 
room it would be possible to put several stationary tubs, 
one or two benches with several portable tubs, a small 
laundry stove, some small machines, hand driven if nec- 
essary, and with all the other usual accessories such as 
baskets and hampers, various irons and sprinklers, there 
is really no part of the process that cannot be easily and 
well done. Be sure that i'n either case the floor is so finished 
as to always represent a dry, clean laundry. 

Where a special room for the laundry is planned in the 
building, the first thought for the teacher is what sized class 
can be comfortably handled, and it will be found unprac- 
tical to attempt as large a group in laundry as in cookery. 
Sixteen to twenty is a much better number than twenty- 
five or thirty. The work, unlike cooking, can rarely be 
carried on on exactly the same time schedule for each stu- 
dent, because the stains of some garments take longer to 
remove than others, or the ironing of certain garments may 
be more complicated and hence, take longer. All this irregu- 
larity increases the work of supervision, because of the 
uneven stages of the class-room work, and because with 



184 Laundering. 

the laundry the students usually furnish their own working 
material, and the garment scorched cannot be replaced as a 
piece of bread scorched. Two students can do good work 
at one tub, even though they each have a garment. Often, 
for the sake of greater variety, the two students in the group 
may have different garments, but for the sake of the point 
of the lesson, both garmer^ts should represent the same 
principle. 

Individual work requires a much larger expenditure of 
money, because of the many pieces of equipment. It is 
the best work because each student may be held responsible 
for his own efforts and results. Individual work can be 
carried on by having each girl at a tub, but they wash in 
one tub and rinse in the other, and by this alternating of 
tubs, much time is saved. A steam valve may be attached 
to every other tub. This permits live steam to enter the 
tub thus converting the tub quickly and easily, with less 
danger than lifting the boiler, into a clothes boiler. This 
steam valve should be like an arm that reaches down into 
the bottom of the tub, and may be lifted arm fashion up 
out of the way when not needed. It is possible with these 
individual tubs to show a good variety of equipment, as 
the soap dishes may be different, some expensive and some 
cheap ; the wash-boards may be different ; various types of 
clothes sticks; and the individual work also makes possible 
different kinds of starch and blues used in the same lesson, 
students making comparison as they work side by side. 

As to the arrangement of these tubs, the aisle between 
two double rows will be found very easy to supervise, 
because by standing at the head of the aisle, the teacher 
may direct two rows or even four rows of students. This 
placing of the tubs is done by standing the tubs back to 
back, and if the classes or the ages of the students vary to 



Suggestions for Teachers. 185 

such an extent that two heights of tubs should be con- 
sidered, one row of tubs may be set lower than the other 
row. This thought is quite necessary for grammar school 
children and for those students in first year high school. 
But for training schools and colleges it will hardly be nec- 
essary to have the row of low-set tubs; the occasional 
short student may have a small platform upon which to 
stand. 

Many teachers prefer the hollow square arrangement in 
cooking laboratories, and may feel that this is the best 
arrangement for the wash tubs. To the author there is 
one reason why it is not so satisfactory for laundry classes 
as for cooking classes. The teacher may walk on the inside 
of the hollow square and easily demonstrate how to stir 
or measure, but to show a student how to wash or to wring 
the garment it will be found that this arrangement is not 
so satisfactory. The plumbing is in the way or the wash- 
boards are not in the proper place, so it necessitates the 
instructor walking out and around in order to assist the 
student. 

Ironing boards or tables should be as nearly individual as 
possible. The board with its own burner is especially good, 
as it means so much less walking around the room, and 
again it means a compact equipment. Sleeve boards come 
with these ironing boards and so the $15 charged for each 
board need not be considered so expensive, as it means 
much equipment in compact form. These boards may 
seem too expensive to use with classes whose members repre- 
sent the poorer homes. For students who are training to 
teach, it would seem advisable to have as much variety in 
equipment as possible, as the use of this equipment will 
better prepare them for various localities and types of 
work. With this thought in mind it would be unwise to 



186 



Laundering. 



put in individual ironing boards at $15 each, when there 
are many that can be bought for $1.50. 

In this day when so many machines and devices are used, 
it would be wise to choose washing machines that represent 
different principles, as well as to have machines that may 




be of service in rural homes where perhaps electricity is not 
possible. Oftentimes the manufacturers are glad to loan 
the machines for the instruction of the class, or they may 
send demonstrators to show the working of the machine 
or device. This is a co-operation between manufacturer 
and teacher which can be of service to both. 



Suggestions for Teachers. 



187 



Lockers. — If the plan is to wash the clothes in one lesson 
and iron the same ones the next, these rough dry 
clothes will have to be stored for over night or more 
usually for one week. Individual lockers, about a 
cubic foot in size, each with its individual key, will 
be found the most convenient, as well as the safest 
way to keep the clothes, each student being individually 
responsible for her own locker. The instructor has a 
master key, so that supervision is possible. These 




lockers should be ventilated by wire netting in the 
door. 

Wheeled Truck. — A two-shelved supply table on a wheeled 
truck will be found of the greatest value for the col- 
lecting and replacing of supplies and small equipment. 

Storage Closet. — The storage of equipment should be given 
great consideration on the part of the teacher. The 
most satisfactory way will be literally to build the 
closet around the equipment. Folding skirt boards 
may be folded and stood on end in a closet built espe- 
cially for them. In this same closet above the ironing 



188 Laundering. 

boards there may be two shelves for sleeve boards. 
A closet may be shelved so that wash-boards may 
stand on the shelves book fashion. The same sized 
closet that takes the skirt boards and sleeve boards 
will hold three tiers of wash-boards. It is best that 
all this equipment be kept in closed closets so the 
boards will be clean and ready for use. In this storage 
room there may be tiers of drawers, one tier of deep 
drawers for the storage of new material to which the 
students need have no access, and a tier of shallower 
drawers so planned that there may be a drawer for 
ironing board covers, for ironing pads and iron holders. 
These latter drawers are for the use of the students. 

From the outlines of lessons given in this book a 
teacher may combine her lessons in any way she wishes, 
but it should be her thought to combine various articles 
to be washed to illustrate the principle of the lesson. 
For instance, if there must be cutting down of work, 
because of number of lessons or shortness of hours, it 
would seem best to thoroughly impress the thought 
that alkalis yellow or dissolve wool, that boiling shrinks 
it, by performing these tests, or having the students 
do it individually if possible, and then for the practical 
work use two garments which represent the knitted 
and woven type like a shawl or a sweater, and a petti- 
coat or a shirtwaist. To carry the principle further, 
one of these garments might be white and the other 
colored. In the same way starching should be taught 
by laying stress upon the various kinds of starch, how 
to make and use the starch paste, and then choose 
two or three garments which would need different 
kinds of starching. For example, a man's collar or 
cuff, an apron, and then for the thinner starching some 



Suggestions for Teachers. 189 

garment of sheer material, such as organdy, dimity, 
dotted Swiss, and the like. 

To introduce various kinds of soaps and blues, a 
different soap and blue could be used each lesson, hav- 
ing the students make individual observation as to 
the points which are to be brought out later when soaps 
and blues are used as the object of the lesson. Sug- 
gest looking for variety of color, stickiness of soap and 
odor of it; for blues, have them notice their solubility 
and color tint. All of these observations make a splen- 
did preparation for the heavier, more chemical work 
which is to follow. 

Too much time can hardly be spent on stains and 
their removal. Various stains on various materials 
should be given before the lessons in washing, as it will 
mean the student may assume individual responsibility 
on the days when a stained garment is brought to be 
washed. Stain work is of untold value, as it brings 
about the correlation of the chemistry of cleansing 
agents and fabrics, and it also brings before the student 
in a practical way the economies of stain and dirt 
removal. It is this lesson which should be the prac- 
tical illustration, and should also be the individual 
proving of the theoretical work which has preceded, 
concerning solvents, absorbents, detergents and bleaches 
as soil removers. 

From the economical standpoint some thought 
should be impressed upon students of the time required 
for plain garments as compared with elaborate ones, 
and the actual cost of the doing at home, allowing for 
the woman to be paid at washerwoman's rates, com- 
pared with the price paid for the same garment if sent 
out to the so-called professional cleaner. A second 



190 Laundering. 

problem where economics and laundry should be cor- 
related is the comparison of cost of machine vs. hand 
work in the home. 

The equipment may be taught by having the stu- 
dents go to house-fiunishing stores, collect various 
advertisements from magazines, or perhaps write to 
manufacturers for their printed material. The cost of 
equipment is clearly shown, and much can be learned 
concerning variety of principles of machines and their 
general utility. For classes of teachers, illustrated 
card catalogues may be worked up, and these will be 
of great service to her in her new field of work. It 
means also that she is better able to make out her 
departmental budget. 

LAUNDRY OUTLINES. 

Some suggestive topics that may help the teacher in out- 
lining her work. 

The practical work of the course should be varied to suit 
the needs of the neighborhood and should be adapted to 
the type of school and to the need of students on the part 
of the pupils. The lesson on dry cleaning may be omitted 
unless the teacher should demonstrate. If this lesson is 
given the fire laws of the town should be noted and every 
precaution urged. The cost of laundry work may well be 
introduced in several of the lessons. Such a question as 
what it is fair to pay a woman for a day's washing and 
ironing, '^he average cost per dozen, or per single piece, 
are all important matters. We need here particularly to 
understand the value of labor and to learn to pay well for 
ironing of elaborate garments; or, on the other hand, to 
economize by using plainer garments. 



Laundry Outlines. 191 

I. Reasons for the course; for housekeeper; for personal 
use — economy, practice, cleanHness. The laundress, her 
appearance, duty, knowledge of purifying aids, types of 
soil, removal of stains, caution necessary in use of chem- 
icals, methods of washing all garments, knowledge of various 
fabrics and the effect of chemicals on same. Spotting and 
cleansing reagents and solutions made. 

II. The laundry; cost and time problems of commercial 
vs. home laundries. The home laundry, including the type 
wall, floor, the lighting and equipment. The care of the 
clothing while waiting to be washed and after ironing. Prep- 
aration of irons and boards for work. 

III. Methods of laundering; including sorting, removing 
stains, washing, rinsing, bluing, starching, tinting, sprin- 
kling and ironing. Water: kinds, methods of testing hard- 
ness, purifying, cleaning and softening. 

IV. Soaps: kinds, quality, adulterants, making and 
economical use of; raaking soaps, soap jellies, detergents; 
bleaching fat and making alkali for soap recipe. 

V. Blue: solubility, value, color, composition, use and 
abuse, removal of over-amount, the decomposition of blues 
and iron deposits on clothes. 

VI. Starch: kinds — ^rice, wheat, com — their relative value 
for stiffness and color; testing starches by microscope; 
cooking; the use of starch for glazing and making garment 
less absorbent. Recipes for making stiff starch, starch jelly, 
clear starch, cold starch;, effect of starch on blue. 

VII. Woolens in form of flannel; knitted and crocheted 
articles. The wool fiber; rts reasons) for shrinkage; the 
effect of friction; effect of change of temperature on fiber; 
methods of washing to prevent shrinking and stretching; 
use of frames; recipes for flannel washes. 



o 



192 Laundering. 

VIII. Embroideries: care in washing various colors and 
kinds; method of washing, drying, and ironing. The effect 
of salt and of heat in preventing or promoting fading. The 
use of extra padding on boards and how pads may be made. 

IX. Laces: including their washing, bleaching, making 
an ecru tint, basting to keep shape; pinning as a substitute 
for ironing. Lingerie material, as jabots, collars, ties, 
stocks, embroidered waists; illustrate both embroidery and 
lace. 

X. Colored goods: including ginghams, prints, cretonnes 
and stockings; the use of salt or acid; effect of heat and 
long soaking for fading; brightening of colors by salt or 
acid rinse, by tinting starch for plain colors; hanging in 
sun; use of starch or bran water in place of soap; use of 
invisible starch for blacks or browns. 

XL Dry cleaning: meaning of term; wet cleaning vs. 
dry; care in use, storing and buying of gasoline; fire laws; 
necessity of great care in working away from all fire; 
working in open air; gasoline used as water as regards 
quantity and rinsing; use of cloth and brush; use of gaso- 
line as a moth or vermin exterminator; removal of odor 
by warmth. 

XII. Disinfecting clothing by bichloride of mercury, 
Piatt's chloride, formaldehyde, burning sulphur, utensils to 
use; care in preparation and isolation from the household. 

XIII. Bleaching: its use and abuse; methods, materials 
used; destroying chemical action after bleaching is complete. 

OUTLINES OF LAUNDRY COURSES, No. I. 

I. 

General notes to be given. 

Making soap, detergent, Javelle water. 



Laundry Outlines. 193 

II. 



Wash. 

Table linen. 

1 table cloth for every four students. 
1 dinner napkin for each student. 
1 doylie for each student. 

III. 

Wash. 
Bed linen. 

1 sheet for every four students. 
1 pillow case for each student. 
Iron. 

Table cloth, napkins and doylies. 

IV. 

Wash. 

1 night dress for every two students. 

1 pair of drawers for each student. 
Iron. 

Sheets and pillow cases. 

V. 

Wash. 

Body linen. 

1 short white skirt for every student, or 
1 long skirt for every two students. 
1 corset cover for each student. 
Iron. 

Nightdress and drawers. 



194 Laundering. 

VI. 

Wash. 

1 shirtwaist for two students. 

1 collar and one pair of cuffs for each student. 
Iron. 

Skirts and corset covers. 



VII. 

Wash. 

Stockings and towels. 
Starch. 

Shirtwaists, collars and cuffs. 



VIII. 

Iron. 

Shirtwaist. 
Collars and cuffs. 



IX. 

Wash. 

Flannels, 1 piece for each student. 



X. 

Iron. 

Flannels. 
Iron. 

Colored clothes. 



Laundry Outlines. 195 

XL 

Wash. 

Handkerchiefs, embroideries. 

Laces. 
Clear starching. 
Iron. 

Embroideries. 

Handkerchiefs. 

XH. 

Clean and wash black or woolen goods. 
Wash. 

1 piece of woolen goods for each student. 

Wash and clear starch sash curtains, one-half curtain 
for each student. 
Iron. 

Goods and curtain. 

LESSON OUTLINE, No. I. 

16 lessons. 3 hours each lesson. 

One-third lectures and two-thirds practical work. 
Lesson 1. 
Lecture: General outline. 

Study. Prepare equipment. . 

Lesson 2. 

Lecture: History of development of laundry. 

Foreign methods. Stereopticon lectures. 
Reasons for laundry. 



196 Laundering. 

Lesson 3. 

Lecture: Cleansing reagents. 

Practical work: Making cleansing solutions. 

Lesson 4. 
Lectiure: Effect of chemicals on fibers. 

Stains. Removal. 
Practical work: Removal of stains. 

Lesson 5. 

Lecture: Equipment, various machines. 
Practical work: Stains and spotting. 

Lesson 6. 

Lecture: Methods of washing. 

Practical work : Washing table linen, bed linen. 

Lesson 7. 
Lecture : Methods of washing reviewed. 

Starch. Starching. 
Practical work : Washing drawers, corset covers. 
Ironing table linen, bed linen. 

Lesson 8. 

Lecture : Methods of ironing starched clothes. 

Irons. 
Practical work: Washing nightgowns, aprons. 
Ironing drawers, corset covers. 

Lesson 9. 

Lecture: Soap. Analysis. 
Practical work : Wash petticoat. 

Iron nightgown, apron. 



Laundry Outlines. 197 

Lesson 10. 

Visit commercial laundry. 

Lesson 11. 

Lecture: Stiff starching. 

Practical work: Wash tailored waist, lingerie. 
Iron petticoat. 

Lesson 12. 

Lecture: Blues. Bluing. 

Practical work: Clear starch lingerie waist. 

Lesson 13. 
Lecture: Wool, silk fibers. 
Practical work: Wash woolen. 

Knitted. 
Woven. 
Press garments in lesson. 

Lesson 14. 
Lecture: Wash laces, colored clothes. 
Practical work : Washing and finishing garments of the 
lesson. 

Lesson 15. 

Special problems, representing review. 

Lesson 16. 

Cleaning laundry equipment. 

Review. 

Examination. 



198 Laundering. 

LAUNDRY OUTLINE. 

Six Lessons. 
Lesson L 

Methods of washing. 
Making solutions. 
Stains— their removal. 
'Wash tablecloth; fringed napkins; napkin. 

Lesson IL 

Iron unstarched goods. 

Wash starched goods. 

Make starch. 

Wash one of three pieces: Corset cover, apron, skirt. 

Lesson III. 

Iron starched goods. 

Wash tailored shirtwaist; collars. 

Lesson IV. 

Iron tailored waist; collars. 
Wash knitted or crocheted piece. 

Lesson V. 

Wash lingerie waist. 
Clear starching. 
Wash embroidery ; lace. 
Finish lesson of day. 

Lesson VI. 
Wash flannels; colored goods. 
Finish flannels; colored goods. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

I. Methods — Foreign. 

"Daily Life in Italy." Journal of Home Economics , Febru- 
ary, 1911. 
"Along French By- Ways." Clifton Johnson. 
"Open Air Wash Days." The Craftsman, June, 1906. 

II. Chemistry. 

Dictionary of Applied Chemistry, Vol. IV. Thorpe. 
International Chemical Encyclopedia. 
"The Science of Laundry Work." Margaret C. Rankin. 
"Household Chemistry." Vulte and Goodell. 

III. Textiles. 

"Methods of Textile Chemistry." Frederick Dannerth. 
"Textile Fibres." J. Merritt Matthews. Woolman and 
McGowan. 

IV. Text Books. 

"The Art of Laundry Work." Margaret C. Rankin. 
"The Science of Laundry Work." Margaret C. Rankin. 
"Laundry Work." Juniata Sheppard. 
"Approved Methods for Home Laundering." Mary Vail. 

Proctor and Gamble, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
"Dry Cleaning, Scouring and Dyeing. " WiUiam T. Brannt. 
"Foods and Household Management." Kinne and Cooley. 
"Laundry Work." E. L. Marsh. 

V. Equipment — Domestic. 

"Equipment for Teaching Domestic Science," Chap. IV. 
Helen Kinne. 

"Machinery for Women." L. R. Balderston in Good House- 
keeping, October, 1913. 

"Cost of a Home Laundry." E. R. Peyser in Good House- 
keeping, February, 1912. 

(199) 



200 Laundering. 

VI. Equipment — Institutional. 

"Equipment for the Small Institutional Laundry," Clara 
O. Noyes, Journal of Home Economics, November, 1910, 

"The Launderer." D. H. Benjamin, Starchroom Pub. Co., 
Cincinnati, Ohio. 

VII. Marking. 

"Methods of Marking Linen for Home and Institution." L. 
A. Parker in Household Arts Review, Teachers College, New 
York, November, 1910. 

VIII. Management of Institutions. 

"Laundry Accounts." L. J. Liversey. 

"The Small Hospital Laundry." Clara Noyes in American 
Journal of Nursing, Volume 6. 

IX. Wages. 

"Women Laundry Workers in New York." S. A. Clark and 
E. Wyatt, in McClure's Magazine, February, 1911. 

"Report on Condition of Women and Children Wage-Earners 
in U.S." Charles P. Neill, Com. of Labor, in Employment 
of Women in Laundries, Vol. XII. 

X. Laundry Magazines. 

Suds. Syracuse Chemical Company. 

American Laundry Journal, Troy, N. Y. 

Starch Room Laundry Journal, Cincinnati, Ohio. 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Absorbents 34 

Acetic acids 78 

Adulteration of fabrics 30 

Agents for washing 52 

Alcohol . 78 

Alcohol irons 162 

Alum 73 

America, Municipal laundries 22 

Ammonia 56 

Aniline blue 68, 70, 176 

Animal fibers 27 

Silk 28 

Wool 27 

Aprons .96, 97, 101 

Arrangement of laboratories 184 

Bed linen . .,- . 91 

Benzine : • 77 

Bibliography 199 

Bichloride of mercury 126 

Blankets, to wash 108 

Bleaches 36 

Ammonia 37 

Borax 37 

Chloride of lime 38 

Hydrogen peroxide 38 

Hydrosulphite of soda 38 

Oxalic acid 38 

Potassium permanganate 38 

Sulphur 37 

Sunshine 37 

Bleaching woolens 110 

laces 1 16 

(201) 



202 Laundering. 

PAGE 

Blues, effect of 70 

kinds 67 

properties of 69 

solubility 69 

to make 69 

to remove 71 

to test 71 

to tint 71 

to use 70 

Blues and bluing 66 

Bluing 84 

Body linen, white 93 

Boiling of body linen 93 

table linen 88 

Care of machinery 171,173 

Caustic potash 74 

Chamois and doe-skin gloves 114 

Charcoal irons 162 

Chemical history 14 

Chiffon and chiffon cloth 122 

Chloride of lime 38 

Chloroform 76 

Citric acid 78 

Classification of stains 32 

Cleaning, dry 41,77, 109, 128 

gold and silver lace 119 

lace yokes and sleeves 118 

velvet 113 

woolens 1 09 

Cleansing agents 73 

Cleansing, methods of 32 

Clear starching 66 

Clothes driers 163 

sprinklers 165 

hampers and baskets 165 

pins 166 

Clothing, fumigation and disinfection 124 

Clothing, gloss removed 123 



Index. 203 

PAGE 

Cold starch 65 

Collars and cuffs 64, 85, 101 

Colored clothes 103 

hanging 105 

ironing 105 

soap substitutes for 105 

stains 104 

starch substitute 106 

starching 105 

to set colors 103 

washing 1 04 

Colored woolens, washing Ill 

Community laundries 20 

America 22 

England 20 

France 21 

Germany 20 

Italy 22 

Switzerland 20 

Corduroy, white, washing 114 

Corset covers, folding of 94 

Corsets 119 

Cotton fibers 29 

Counting clothes 80 

Courses in laundry 192 

Curtain stretchers ; 167 

Detergents 35,110 

Detergent recipe 60 

Diapers 102 

Disinfection 124 

Down-quilts 120 

Drawers 96, 97, 99 

Drawn work 119 

Dresses 96, 97 

Dress shields 119 

Dry cleaning 4 1,77, 109, 128 

danger 128 

object 128 



204 Laundering. 

PAGE 

Dry cleaning, to use 129 

Drier 168, 169 

Drying 85 

Drying woolens 108 

Economic reasons for laundering 24 

Eflfect of^blue 70 

Elastic goods 119 

Electric irons 161 

Embroidered centerpieces 91 

Embroidery, ironing of 97 

England, municipal laundries 20 

Equipment 133 

clothes driers 163 

clothes hampers and baskets 165 

clothes pins 166 

clothes sprinklers 165 

curtain stretchers 187 

for home laundry 133 

for laboratories 183 

irons 160 

iron holders 166 

ironing boards 159 

machines, washing 141 

mangles . . 156 

pieces of equipment 140 

starching outfit 167 

stoves 167 

testing outfit 168 

wash tubs 152 

wringers 154 

Equipment for stains 39 

Equipment list 133 

Equipment for teachers 181 

lockers 187 

storage closet 187 

wheeled truck 187 

Ether 76 

Extractors, to load 174 



Index. 205 

PAGE 

Fabrics 27 

Animal 27 

Mixed 30 

Vegetable 29 

Feathers from hats 130 

Folding 86, 87 

Folding of bed linen 92 

body linen 97 

chemise 95 

corset cover 94 

drawers 99 

napkins 90 

nightdress 98 

pillow slips 92 

sheets 92 

shirts 100 

table linen 89 

towel 101 

FormaHn 126 

Formulas, wash 176 

France, washing in 18 

France, municipal laundries 21 

Fumigation 124 

Gas irons 162 

Gasoline 77 

General laundry, equipment . . .- , 133 

Germany, municipal laundries 18 

Germany, washing in 20 

Gloss removed from clothing 123 

Gloves, chamois and doe-skin, washing 114 

Gold and silver lace 119 

Gum Arabic water 66 

Hand washers 150 

Handkerchiefs, ironing of 101 

Hanging 85 

aprons 97 

bed linen 92 



206 Laundering. 

PAGE 

Hanging, colored clothes 105 

corset covers 97 

drawers 96 

dress 97 

nightdress 96 

skirt 96 

table linen 90 

waist 97 

Heavy starching 64 

History, chemical 14 

mechanical 11 

Holland, washing in 18 

Home laundry equipment 133 

Hydrochloric acid 79 

Hydrogen peroxide 38 

Hydrosulphite of soda 38 

Imitation fibers 31 

Indigo 67 

Inorganic stains 32 

Institutional machinery 168 

Irons 160 

alcohol 162 

charcoal 162 

electric 161 

gas 162 

care of irons 163 

cost of irons 163 

to choose an iron 163 

Iron holders 166 

Ironing 86 

Ironing boards 159 

Ironing of aprons 101 

bed linen 92 

collars and cuffs 101 

colored clothes 105 

corset covers 97 

drawers 97 

embroidered centerpieces > , . . . 91 



Index. 207 

PAGE 

Ironing of embroidery 97 

handkerchiefs 101 

nightdress 97 

shirts 101 

silks 112 

skirts 97 

table linen 90 

towels 101 

waists 101 

woolens Ill 

Italy, municipal laundries 22 

Javelle water 42,116 

Kerosene 75 

Kinds of blues 67 

Kinds of soap 57 

Kinds of starch 61 

Knitted underwear, washed 102 

Lace yokes and sleeves 118 

Laces 115 

bleaching 116 

pinning 116 

stains 115 

washing 115 

Laundering, reasons for 24 

Laundry courses, outlines of 192 

Laundry outlines for teachers 190 

Linen fibers 29 

Loading extractors 174 

Lockers 187 

Lysol and creoline 126 

Machinery, institutional 168 

Magnesium 74 

Making soap 58 

Mangles 156 

Marking clothes 80 

Mechanical history 11 



208 Laundering. 

PAGE 

Mending clothes 80 

Method, foreign 18 

primitive 18 

Method of removing stains 39 

washing silks 112 

woolens 107 

Methods of cleansing 32 

Mixed fabrics 30 

Moulding soap 58 

Municipal laundries 20 

America 22 

England 20 

France 21 

Germany 20 

Italy 22 

Switzerland 20 

Neckties, washed 122 

Nightdress 96, 97, 98 

Normandy, washing in 18 

Norway, washing in 18 

Object of dry cleaning 41, 128 

Organic stains 32 

Outlines for laundry courses 192 

Overalls washed 123 

Oxalic acid 38, 42, 79 

Paraffine 77 

Pillows 127 

Pinning lace 1 16, 1 1 7 

Plumes (or feathers) 120 

Potassium permanganate 38, 42, 74, 1 16 

Preparation of the wash 80 

Primitive methods 18 

Process of washing all white clothes 82 

Prussian blue 68 

Public laundries 22 

Quality ofj[soap 55 



Index. 209 

PAGE 

Rain coats, washed 121 

Reasons for laundering 24 

Recipes 

aniline blue 70 

blanket wash 59, 1 10 

bran water ; 105 

detergent 60, 1 1 6 

gum arabic water 66 

Javelle water 42 

oxalic acid 42 

potassium permanganate 42 

soap 58 

soap bark 1 05, 1 1 1 

soap solution 57, 59, 1 1 1, 175 

starch 66, 96 

starch water 1 05 

Removal of stains 39-5 1 

from wool 107 

Ribbons 112 

Rinsing 83 

Rinsing of body linen 93 

table linen 88 

Rules for removing stains 41 

Sanitary reasons for laundering 24 

Setting color 113 

Shirts 100, 101 

Silk 112 

Silk fibers 28 

Silks, method of washing 112 

Small washers 150 

Soaking clothes 82 

Soaking of 00 

bed linen 91 

body linen . 93 

table linen 88 

Soap 5^5-55 

for blankets 59 

kinds of 57 



210 Laundering. 

PAGE 

Soap making 58 

moulding 58 

quality of 55 

recipes 59 

soda solution for soap making 57 

solution 1 06, 1 75 

solution for cleaning woolens 110 

starch substitutes for colored clothes 105 

storage ^ 59 

substitutes 60 

substitutes for colored clothes 105 

weight substances 56, 57 

SolubiHty of blues 69 

starch 62 

Solvents 34 

Sorting clothes 81 

Special cleansing 121 

Sprinkling 86 

body linen 97 

table linen 90 

Stains 104 

colored clothes '. 104 

laces 115 

removal of 39-5 1 

rules for removal 41 

Starch 60 

Accessories 65 

Clear starching 64 

Cold starching 65 

Heavy starching , 64 

Kinds of 61 

Recipes 66 

Starch grains 62 

Substitutes 65 

Tinting ■ 66 

To make 62 

To starch 63 

To use 63 

Uncooked 65 



Index. 211 

PAGE 

Starching 60, 84 

Starching of aprons 96 

body Hnen 96 

collars and cuffs 64, 85 

colored clothes 1 05 

corset covers. . 96 

drawers 96 

dresses 96 

nightdress 96 

shirts 101 

Starching outfit 167 

Stockings, washed 102 

Storage closet 187 

Stoves 167 

Stretching 86 

Substitutes for starch 65 

Suggestions for teachers 181 

Sulphur 37 

Sunshine 37 

Switzerland, municipal laundries 20 

Switzerland, washing in 19 

Table linen 88 

Teachers, suggestions for 181 

Teaching outlines 190 

Testing outfit 168 

Tinting starch 66 

To bleach 36 

To choose an iron 163 

To make blues 69 

To make soap 58 

To make soap solution 59 

To make starch 62 

To operate machines 149 

To remove bluing 71 

To remove polish from collars 122 

To remove vStains from wool 107 

To remove stains without water 41 

To set color, colored clothes 103 



212 . Laundering. 

PAGE 

To starch 63 

To steam velvet 113 

To test blue 71 

To tint with blue 71 

To use blues 70 

To use starch 63 

Towels 101 

Turpentine 76 

Ultramarine blue 67 

Uncooked starch 65 

Vegetable fibers 29 

Veils, washed 121 

Velvet 113 

Velvet collars, washing 113 

Velveteen, washing 113 

Voile 121 

Waists 97, 101 

Wash tubs 152 

Washers, care of 173 

Washing 82 

Washing agents 52 

Washing formulas 176 

Washing in France 

Germany 18 

Holland '. 

Normandy 

Norway 

Switzerland 

Washing machines 141 

capacity 148 

cost of 150 

materials 148 

small or hand washers 150 

to operate 149 

to set up 148 



Index. 213 

PAGE 

Washing of bed linen 91 

body linen, white 93 

chamois and doe-skin gloves 114 

chiffon and chiffon cloth 122 

colored clothes 104 

colored silks 112 

corsets 119 

down quilts 120 

drawn work 119 

dress shields 119 

elastic goods 119 

embroidered centerpieces 91 

feathers from hats 120 

knitted underwear 102 

lace yoke and sleeves 118 

laces 115 

neckties 122 

overalls 123 

pillows 120 

rain coats 121 

ribbons 112 

silk 112 

stockings 102 

table linen 88 

veils 121 

velvet 113 

velvet collars 113 

' vplveteen 113 

voile 121 

white corduroy 114 

woolens 108 

woolens, colored Ill 

Washing, preparation for 80 

counting 80 

marking 80 

mending 80 

sorting 81 

process of 82 

Washing soda 75 



214 Laundering . 

PAGE 

Water - 52 

Waxes 79 

Weight substances in soap 56, 57 

Wheeled truck 187 

White clothes, process of washing 82 

White corduroy 114 

Wool fibers 27 

Woolens 107 

Wringers 154 



II 



